A practical view on the future of home buying – 2026 our manifesto.

Introduction: A moment to take stock

The public consultation on reforming the home buying and selling process has now closed. As Government moves into a period of analysis and roadmap development, the market enters a natural pause, not in transactions, but in direction.

Homes will continue to be bought and sold under the current system throughout 2026 and beyond. Consumers, agents, conveyancers, and lenders will continue to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and risk as they do so.

This document is not a response to the consultation, nor a call for immediate change. It is a statement of how Property Searches Direct currently sees the market, shaped by seven years of operating at the point where consumers first engage with property information.

What hasn’t changed....

Despite regular debate about reform, several fundamentals of the home buying process remain the same:

• The majority of transactional risk still appears late in the process

• Critical property information is often discovered after an offer is made

• Fall-throughs remain costly, stressful, and largely uncompensated

• Consumers continue to absorb uncertainty with limited visibility

These are not failures of any single profession or participant. They are structural characteristics of a complex system that has evolved over time.

What has changed....

Alongside these constants, meaningful shifts are taking place:

• Consumers are more digitally capable and comfortable, engaging earlier with information

• There is a growing acceptance that modest upfront cost can reduce downstream risk

• Technology can now support secure data reuse, not just speed

• Expectations around transparency and certainty have increased

In our experience, these changes are incremental rather than revolutionary, but they are real.

What we’ve learned in practice

Operating in live market conditions over several years has highlighted a number of practical insights:

• Voluntary adoption outperforms mandates. Consumers engage more readily when early information is presented as an option, not an obligation.

• Early information builds confidence, not commitment. Access to Searches and data supports informed decision-making without forcing premature legal steps.

• Reuse matters more than ownership. The value of property data lies in its ability to be safely reused across the transaction, regardless of who commissions it.

• Certainty comes from process, not just data. Information is most effective when supported by clear explanation, secure sharing, and professional context.

Recent industry polling indicates that many sellers are open to paying upfront for data and searches to achieve greater transaction certainty; however, further government-led evaluation would be valuable in understanding how this sentiment translates into behaviour at scale.

What better outcomes look like

From a practical perspective, improvement in the home buying and selling process is most likely when reforms are:

• Incremental and evidence-led

• Standards-based rather than prescriptive

• Supportive of existing professional roles

• Focused on reducing duplicated effort and late-stage risk

• Designed to operate in real market conditions, not idealised ones

Progress is more likely to come from alignment than disruption.

Where Property Searches Direct stands

Property Searches Direct does not claim to have a definitive solution to the challenges facing the home buying process.

What we do have is:

• Seven years of operating a model aligned with earlier access to property information

• Direct engagement with consumers seeking clarity and certainty often borne out of frustration with the existing status quo.

• Ongoing collaboration with technology partners to support secure identity, compliance, digital signatures, and data sharing and storage

• A platform that operates alongside existing conveyancing and agency workflows

Our position is straightforward: We are ready to support structured testing, piloting, and evaluation when government and industry are ready to proceed.

Looking head....

The coming months will be about translation, turning policy intent into delivery pathways that are workable, proportionate, and trusted.

We believe that progress will come through collaboration, patience, and careful evaluation rather than immediate system-wide change.

Property Searches Direct welcomes dialogue with policymakers, professionals, and partners who share an interest in improving certainty and transparency for consumers, one practical step at a time.

Conclusion

This perspective reflects our current experience and thinking at the start of 2026. It is intended to contribute constructively to industry discussion and provide context for practical improvements in the home buying process, rather than advocating for any single mandated approach. The outcomes of the consultation into the home buying and selling process remain to be seen, and it will be important to observe how any light-touch implementation may operate in practice.

Visit us at https://www.propertysearchesdirect.co.uk/