Posted by Rob Gurney, managing director of Ochresoft, part of Legal Futures Associate Landmark Information Group
Gurney: Higher fee for higher standards
The ambition behind the Project 28 Charter is rightly bold. If the property industry is serious about moving towards 28-day exchanges, then it must confront not only the practical barriers that slow transactions down, but the commercial behaviours that have contributed to those barriers in the first place.
The government’s recent commitment to reform the home-buying process confirms that this ambition is shared.
Proposals including upfront sales packs, earlier binding agreements and greater digitalisation all recognise that achieving faster transactions requires better preparation, better information and stronger collaboration across the industry
This will not be achieved simply by asking professionals to work harder within the same under-resourced system. They will require a fundamental shift in how the industry values expertise, accountability and service quality.
Landmark Information Group’s data shows that delays are rarely caused by one isolated failure.
They are the cumulative result of friction across the transaction process, caused by missing information, duplicated work, inconsistent communication, late-stage surprises and overstretched professionals trying to manage increasingly complex cases under growing pressure.
Today, the process can take up to 123 days – creating uncertainty for consumers, commercial strain for businesses and avoidable inefficiency across the market.
However, the government’s reforms now set out plans intended to reduce this by around four weeks.
A strained system
Landmark research found that transaction timescales are now the leading frustration for agents, conveyancers and lenders. It is a shared problem, experienced across the entire chain.
Each profession sees the same underlying issue from a different vantage point – the system is being asked to deliver greater speed, transparency and certainty without being properly resourced to do so.
This is why the Project 28 Charter’s call for a quality fee for quality service is so important. It moves the debate away from cost alone and towards value.
For too long, parts of the property sector have been shaped by a race to the bottom, where professional expertise is treated as a commodity rather than a critical part of the transaction infrastructure. This often appears cheaper at the outset, but it can create greater cost later through delay, duplication, poor communication and failed transactions.
This approach also devalues the extensive experience delivered by property professionals and the often-hidden work that goes on behind the scenes to progress a transaction via a strained system.
Consumer and industry alignment
Consumers appear to understand this more clearly than the industry sometimes assumes. Landmark’s research shows that 75% of consumers would be willing to pay their estate agent more for a better service, while 71% would pay conveyancers more upfront if it enabled improved information and more transparent data sharing.
This challenges the assumption that consumers are motivated only by the lowest price. When people are buying or selling a home, what they want most is certainty.
That is exactly why the government’s focus on upfront information is so important. Better-prepared transactions should reduce the hidden surprises that so often derail sales, helping buyers and sellers make informed decisions earlier and improving confidence throughout the process
The same is true from the professional perspective. The willingness to improve is there, but the system often hold back progress. Conveyancers recognise that better upfront information can support faster transactions but delivering that service requires additional capacity at the beginning of the process.
Estate agents are also managing rising expectations around compliance, communication and customer service, often within outdated fee structures that do not reflect the complexity of the role they now perform.
These are not failures of intent. They are symptoms of a system that has not consistently evolved to reward the quality it says it wants.
Paying for certainty (and value)
A fair fee is not an argument for higher prices without higher standards. It is an argument for aligning remuneration with the level of service, accountability and professionalism required to deliver better outcomes.
If consumers are paying for greater certainty, the government’s reforms should make delivering that certainty significantly easier, but only if the professionals responsible for progressing transactions are properly equipped, supported and fairly remunerated to make best use of the new information and technology available to them.
This is the connection that matters most. Faster transactions do not come from cutting corners. They come from investing in capability to ensure certainty earlier.
Technology, data and process reform are all essential, and the government’s proposals around digital identity verification, electronic signatures, AI-assisted conveyancing and trusted property data represent a significant step forward, but they will only succeed if the professionals using them are properly supported.
A more efficient market depends on people having the time and resource to act earlier, share information more effectively and resolve issues before they become delays.
If the property industry wants to deliver on the Project 28 Charter commitments, it must move beyond the idea that cheaper is always better and strive to demonstrate the real value of the sector’s expertise.
In a complex transaction, underinvestment has a cost of its own. It shows up in lost time, failed sales, frustrated consumers and exhausted professionals.
The Charter commitments will not be delivered by asking overstretched professionals to do more for less. It will be delivered by building a market that values quality properly and is prepared to pay fairly for the expertise, accountability and service that faster transactions require.
For more information about The Project 28 Charter or to apply to become a member, visit www.project28charter.co.uk
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