There is a quiet crisis occurring in the UK housing market. Thousands of people each year are losing thousands of pounds that they will never be able to recover, whilst missing out on the opportunity to live in the home they chose to buy. These stories are so common they are mostly unheard; we are conditioned to accept property transactions as inherently risky, inherently stressful, and inherently expensive. Therefore, it isn’t newsworthy.

Each year over a billion pounds is leached from the UK economy through collapsed property transactions, which currently occur at a rate of 1 in 4. A quarter of deals never make it to exchange, yet consumers are forced to pay for the services they’ve used regardless, such as conveyancing or mortgage brokerage. This is accepted by many as collateral damage. Housecure disagrees.

The Impact

Whilst service providers expect to be paid whether the deal progresses or not, this leaves the consumers with a bill for services not needed. Suppose a buyer is forced to pull out of a purchase because a survey reveals undisclosed issues with the property. Should a buyer be forced to pay for legal services that brought them no value? Should the survey only cover the person who commissioned it, or should they be allowed to sell it on to subsequent interested parties to recover some of their costs? We aren’t advocating the service providers foot the bill, but instead to reduce the likelihood and size of loss through better preparation and accountability.

Situations like this are very common and mean that property transactions operate on chance and with terrible odds at that; you gamble upwards of £2000 that no important, negative information will materialise later in the transaction.

This information asymmetry between all parties must be addressed and the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agents Team (NTSELAT) agree. They have recently clarified their requirements for the provision of upfront material information on property listings. This is just one piece of the puzzle, however, as more education, transparency and commitment is needed from all stakeholders in the market to improve outcomes for consumers.

Overall, the structure of a property transaction, i.e, who has access to what information and when, as well as whose responsibility it is to front the cost of services despite where the blame lies, results in confusion and pain. Consumers have to research and vet lots of potential homes and service providers and hope that they are lucky enough to stumble upon a good combination that results in success. We believe that restructuring the current system in a realistic, sustainable way will reduce this pain and confusion for consumers, without leading to negative consequences for major stakeholders, such as agents.

The Solution

Housecure is a survival backpack for these consumers. We offer a suite of solutions accessible from one intuitive dashboard with the aim of reducing risk, stress and unnecessary expense in our homebuyers’ journeys. Our backpack contains:

• A map and guides: We provide a range of education guides explaining what their journey will like, the processes and what they will encounter along the way.
• A compass: A map helps you plan but you also need real time updates given your current situation. We provide personalised recommendations, encouraging the user to take actions to get on the right path and going in the right direction. Whether it be getting a mortgage in principle before they have found a home or booking a removal van once they’ve exchanged, each recommendation gets them closer to their goal, with less effort and reducing their risk along the way.
• A satellite phone: Often you’ll need specialist guidance. We make it easy to find and get in contact with local, vetted service providers such as conveyancers, surveyors or mortgage brokers.
• A safety rope: We also supply a safety rope in the form of a ‘Reservation Agreement’. This protects them if something goes wrong, allowing them to recover their costs if a transaction falls through when it’s not their fault.

Housecure allows buyers and sellers to enter the market confidently and in the knowledge that they have somebody looking after their best interests. You wouldn’t climb Everest with an empty backpack, so why buy a house without Housecure?