Home buying and selling reform: the biggest change in a generation, and what it means for you
On 19 June 2026 the government published its Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, its formal response to two consultations and its committed plan for change. The government itself calls this a once in a generation reform of how homes are bought and sold. For estate agents, that is not an overstatement. It is also, for the agencies that move early, one of the clearest opportunities the sector has had in years.
The document runs to 61 pages. We have read it so you do not have to. Here is what matters, why some of it affects you today rather than at some point in the future, and what to do about it.
What this document is
This is the government's committed plan for reform, not a single new law. It sets out what government heard from more than 1,300 responses and, more importantly, what it will now do.
The significance is the certainty. Government has committed to legislate on the core measures: digital sales packs before listing, binding conditional contracts, and digital logbooks and packs as a standard feature of every transaction. These will be introduced in phases, but the intent is no longer ambiguous. The market this roadmap describes is the market you will be operating in.
Why it matters
The roadmap is built around the problem you live with every day. The government's own figures:
Around one in three transactions falls through, costing consumers roughly £400 million a year and the wider economy at least £1.5 billion.
A completed sale now takes around 120 days on average, about 60% longer than in 2007.
The root cause it names is the one you know: information that is missing, late or inconsistent, so issues surface only after time and money have been spent.
The government's answer is to bring that information forward to the start of the transaction. For agents who prepare for it, that is not a burden. It is a faster, cleaner, more profitable way to sell.
The changes still to come
Change | When | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
Digital sales packs before listing | Committed. Phased in, starting with voluntary provision now. | Comprehensive upfront information, including searches and a property condition report, prepared before a property is marketed. The biggest structural change in the roadmap, and the one you can start acting on today. |
Code of Practice and qualifications | Code of Practice in 2026. Qualifications consultation in 2027. | Minimum best-practice standards for agents, followed by a likely move toward mandatory qualifications. |
Digital logbooks and packs | Committed to legislate. Phased in. | Digital packs and logbooks become a standard part of every transaction, with a mandated minimum set of data. |
Binding conditional contracts | Follows once digital sales packs are embedded. | Parties commit earlier, with penalty fees and clear exceptions for legitimate withdrawal. Ahead of this, government will promote the voluntary use of reservation agreements. |
Streamlined AML and AI conveyancing | AML support now. AI standards in 2027. | AML checks shared and reused across the chain to remove duplication, plus standards for the use of AI in conveyancing. |
Smart data and digitised records | Underway now, through to 2035. | Trusted, shareable property data: expanded HM Land Registry APIs, Local Land Charges complete by 2028, a full digital geospatial land register by 2035. |
What a digital sales pack will contain
Specifics will be confirmed before legislation, and we are close to that work as it develops. Based on the direction the roadmap sets out, a digital sales pack is expected to include the following. Use it as a readiness checklist:
Tenure type, Council Tax band, EPC rating and property type
Title information and documents
Seller ID verification
Leasehold and freehold estate terms (service charges, ground rent, estate charges)
Building safety information
Standard search results (local authority, drainage and water, environmental, locality-specific risks)
A general property information questionnaire
A property condition assessment report tailored to the property's age and type
Accessibility information, chain status and floor plan
"Being able to sit in a valuation and tell a vendor we are already ahead of market changes and we offer Digital Sale Ready sets us apart from the competition. Sellers feel more comfortable that they’re more prepared from the beginning too. More often than not, this is what wins us the instruction." - Hannah Edwards, Head of Business Development, Peter Alan Estate Agents
The reforms arrive in phases. The advantage of moving now is immediate. The agencies that prepare properties to the standard today win more completions today, and arrive at legislation already compliant and already ahead.
The bigger picture
Reducing the number of sales that fall through, and making moving home better for everyone involved, has been our purpose for years. This roadmap is a genuinely exciting step in that direction.
Picture a market that moves comfortably beyond the 1.2 million homes that change hands each year, where customers move with far less friction and uncertainty, and where estate agents and every professional in the chain are more profitable for it. That is the future these reforms point toward, and it is the one we have been building for.
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Home buying and selling reform roadmap, updated 19 June 2026:
gov.uk/government/consultations/home-buying-and-selling-reform
This article is Moverly's summary of the government roadmap, written for estate agents. For the full detail, refer to the source above.