RICS debate urges industry to unite and simplify house buying process

RICS debate urges industry to unite and simplify house buying process

A gathering of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has called on the industry to unite and improve the buying and selling process for the public.

A Question Time-style panel for RICS members in the north west of England, chaired by the institution’s associate residentail director Graham Ellis, there was debate around the need for sellers to provide detailed information about their property up front to give buyers more assurance and certainty, and in some cases, avoid having to pay costly legal and survey fees up front. 

Panel members at the event, staged at Haydock Racecourse, included representatives from Countrywide, Ombudsman Services and surveying body SAVA, as well as other chartered surveying and conveyancing companies.     

A report on the meeting on the RICS website says there was debate on the Conveyancing Association’s recent call for the creation of a log book or home report for each property on sale. This was reminiscent in principle to the Home Information Packs, introduced a decade ago “which the panel agreed could have worked had the initiative been implemented properly.”

The RICS panellists unanimously believed that HIPs would not be re-introduced now, however.