Has Chancellor Osborne’s thorough analysis of the sector led him to believe we are holding up the remortgage process for kicks?
Emma Coffey is business development manager at Blacks Connect
The housing market, it seems, is the government’s new favourite obsession. In yet another example of political interference in a sector that is still getting to grips with the latest EU intervention, it was revealed that the government is considering proposals that would see the time it takes to remortgage cut from the current timeframe of anywhere up to three months to just seven days. Whilst I guess we could be flattered that our industry is clearly the topic of so much discussion in Downing Street and the corridors of parliament, one has to question (once again!) whether the government has really thought this through.
The suggestion - the details of which have not yet been released - prompted a discussion on why exactly the current process takes so long. It’s a question I wish Mr Cameron and his advisers had asked.
Conveyancers are often the scapegoats in the debate surrounding mortgages and lengthy processes involved. I’ll be the first to admit some conveyancers can hold up the process but the reality is there are a number of parties involved in the remortgage process for whom a seven day turnaround time would be almost impossible.
We can’t make leasehold management companies provide the necessary information faster, for example. Such information is supposed to be supplied within 28 days but we all know that isn’t always the case.
As everyone operating within this sector will know the length of time it takes to issue a mortgage can differ considerably. The government has not made clear when the seven days would start but if it is from application as opposed to offer this will need to be addressed.
While a number of lenders will accept search indemnity insurance, thus removing the need for a new search, not all do. In some circumstances a full search may be required and if this is the case the processing time is likely to be in excess of seven days.
Despite huge advancements in technology and systems in the conveyancing world in recent years the conveyancing process hasn’t reduced. Why? Because we have no control over third parties. And, in many cases (not all mind) there is a reason those third parties take the time that they do.
Does Mr Cameron think the housing industry enjoys delays? Has Chancellor Osborne’s thorough analysis of the sector - something I’m sure he must have done given the amount of involvement he has had in it of late - led him to believe we are holding up the remortgage process for kicks?
Too often lately the government is making sweeping changes to a market it appears to have little understanding off. Of course we’d all like to see the time it takes to remortgage reduced. But making pie in the sky proposals without any real consideration for the parties involved and the measures that would have to be taken is at best naive and at worst dangerous.
