Stephen Smith, director – housing marketing at L&G, said: "There is no need to wait until 2005 for a smoother home move. While Government legislation will formalise aspects of the new process, the means exist now to make moving home a better experience."
The steps are contained in a leaflet which explains how sellers packs should work, and what can be done now.
The first step is to get a mortgage agreement in principle before househunting, so that borrowers know how much they can borrow and how much they can afford to spend. Then when a property is found the only thing to do is to get a lenders valuation to generate a formal mortgage offer.
The second step is legal preparation. Once a property has been found, solicitors need to be instructed to begin the legal preparatory work.
The final step is to protect the home move through insurance, which protects against solicitors and survey fees if the deal falls through due to gazumping, job loss, adverse survey and death.
Smith said: "The Government’s planned changes are radical. So an education process is needed for homeowners and estate agents to ensure a smooth transition to the new process. Our leaflet is just one of the ways we will be adding to this overall education."
