HIPs-style 'Home Owner Passport' launching to speed u...

A firm is launching a new Home Owner’s Passport this weekend in a bid to speed up conveyancing.

With characteristics reminiscent of the much-derided Home Information Packs - scrapped in 2010 - the HOPs aim to “provide guaranteed completion timescales” according to the firm introducing them, Teal Legal.

The passport, which will exist online, has been devised by the firm in a year-long collaboration with Keele University.

It works by interrogating conveyancing due diligence data and applying algorithms to work out how complex the conveyancing transaction is likely to be. Based on this information, a predicted conveyancing timescale is generated.

The firm says that for the first time, this allows properties to be marketed with clarity on how long it’s going to take to get the legal work sorted post-offer.

“With conveyancing taking an average of four months and on third of sales falling through post-offer, the Home Owner’s Passport provides a tool to make a significant difference to the current status quo” the company claims.

So long as it’s registered with the Land Registry any home can be searched, free of charge via the website to generate a free timescale assessment.

A full HOP Report is then available for agents and sellers which includes a bespoke checklist for sellers to get them ‘move ready’: this report costs £29.50p.

Teal claims that by completing the steps advised in the report whilst the property is being marketed, sellers can then achieve an even earlier ‘potential move date’.

The HOP goes a lot further than some property experts’ suggested Log Book idea, the firm insists.

It says the HOP interprets data and generates enquiries arising from title deeds, “meaning that the lawyers do not have to spend the first few weeks of the conveyancing transaction rounding up the relevant data and raising enquiries to plug the gaps in the paperwork.”

Agents have apparently tested the HOP over the summer and according to Sally Holdway, chief executive of Teal Legal: “What the agents have told us is that by using the HOP as part of their marketing strategy, it can provide a real USP to the local competition, particularly in winning new instructions.”

She continues: “Having the move timescales available at their fingertips can be a real wow factor for potential clients. From our tests to date, the majority of freehold properties with the seller’s checklist completed have fallen into our seven week timescale category, some two months faster than the national average, which clearly also has a positive impact on the agents’ cashflow.”

Holdway adds: “Bearing in mind our conveyancing timelines are working out to be some ten weeks faster than the national average, we are pretty excited about the potential the Home Owner’s Passport has to improve the whole post offer experience for home movers.“