PropTech can reassure agents in post-SDLT holiday market - claim

The right technology can reassure agents that transactions will complete on time - vital to retaining business following the end of the stamp duty holiday.

That’s the view of PropTech firm Gazeal, which says that fall-throughs deter not just existing business but future activity too. 

It says that during 2020 no fewer than 306,198 property sales fell through before completion. This figure is 12 per cent more than in 2019. 

Gazeal co-founder Bryan Mansell says transaction fall-throughs can be reduced with the use of reservation agreements that allow the home buyer and seller to commit to a property through a transparent process. 

“Digitalisation of the property industry removes stress for everyone involved. It does not remove all the hard work, but it does make it a more reliable and trustworthy process. PropTech allows processes could be automated to yield better results without removing human interaction. It works as an additional member of the team that drives the company forward and increases confidence” he suggests.  

All the people involved with the buyer and seller have a duty to make the home buying process as simple as possible. With PropTech at their fingertips, there are solutions that can improve all the stages involved in the transaction, he claims. 

Mansell explains: “For example, once title checks are complete, we automatically ask the seller to complete their legal protocol forms. Our system then transfers this information directly to the estate agent, who in turn can forward it on to the right conveyancer and decide on which buyer to send them to. This gives buyers a transparent and reliable view of the house and also introduces conveyancers much earlier in the process.

“Our HM Land Registry title checks are automated, so this means instead of checking manually we automatically alert sellers to complete Legal Protocol Forms. These forms are then converted into Buyer's Information Packs. This gives buyers a transparent and reliable view of the house before they decide to make it their home.”