Three Reforms. Twenty-Two Weeks. One Question: What Are We Waiting For?

The average UK property transaction takes 22 weeks. Before the internet existed, it took six to eight.

The technology revolution happened. Transaction times got longer.

If that doesn't make you angry, you're probably not reading the right blog.

Estate Agent Today has highlighted three reforms being proposed to speed up the process. They're worth discussing — not because they're radical, but because of the fact that they're still being talked about in 2026 tells you everything about the grip of Professional Resignation on this industry.

One of the biggest barriers to change seems to be the willingness of the industry to continually talk about the issues rather than act on sensible solutions. This is dangerous because it gives the illusion of progress rather than progress itself - something we've witnessed all too much over the course of the last six years.

Reform One: Material Information Upfront

The proposal is simple. Sellers should provide key property information before a buyer even makes an offer. Title deeds. Planning history. Known defects. The things that currently surface six weeks into a transaction and blow the whole thing apart.

One in three UK property transactions collapses before completion costing both buyers and sellers an average of nearly £3,500. Not because buyers changed their minds. Not because surveyors found something unfixable. Because information that should have been available from day one appears too late, too slowly, and in the wrong hands.

This is a Maverick principle. Protect the Pocket. Protect the timeline. Protect the client from a system that treats transparency as optional.

The best agents are already doing this — preparing seller packs before the board goes up, uploading material information to secure data rooms from day one — they aren't waiting for regulation to force their hand. They've already chosen the higher standard. That's not compliance. That's the Maverick Way.

The rest of the market is still stuck in the status quo. Waiting for a buyer to fall in love before anyone bothers finding out whether the property is legally transferable. Classic Old Guard thinking.

Or worse, the race to the bottom on fees means they're running a tick box approach to Material Information, providing sparse details that give the illusion of transparency but is anything but.

Reform Two: Digital Identity Verification

Anti-money laundering checks. Proof of identity. Confirmation of ownership. Currently, every professional in the chain — the estate agent, the conveyancer, the mortgage broker — runs their own checks independently. Same buyer. Same seller. Multiple redundant processes. Weeks of delay baked in before a single legal question has been asked.

The reform proposed here is a shared digital identity verification system. Verify once. Share securely. Move faster.

This is not a revolutionary concept. Banking moved here years ago. The Maverick community has been calling for it longer than most regulators have been paying attention. The barrier isn't technical. It never was. The barrier is institutional inertia — the Old Guard protecting processes that justify their existence, and multiple payments for the same service, rather than serving the client.

Twenty-two weeks. Weeks of that can pass asking the same person for the same passport copy in three different formats. 1998 called. It wants its workflow back.

Digital verification isn't a future ambition. It's a present failure. Every week it isn't standard is a week the system is choosing inconvenience over competence.

However, many are raising concerns about a centralised identity database, particularly in light of the governments push for a digital ID and the recent failure of Companies House systems to keep directors details safe - not through cyberattacks in the latter instance, but through incompetent programming that exposed massive shortcomings within their software.

No system is 100% safe and the personal consequences of identity theft are severe and long-lasting - a push for widespread digital ID should never be at the expense of personal privacy or online safety.

Reform Three: Reservation Agreements

This appears to be the most structurally significant of the three. The intent of a reservation agreement is to create a legally binding commitment between buyer and seller at the point of offer — before the legal process begins. Both parties put skin in the game. Both parties face a financial consequence for walking away without good reason.

On the surface, this all sounds reasonable, until you look at the small print. Recently, we've seen evidence suggesting some reservation agreements are being used to protect the estate agent's fee, not the seller or buyer! Moreover, they create additional conflict, especially where consumers are asked to sign an agreement without the full transparency that a comprehensive Sellers Pack would reveal. This is also usually before a professional advisor has been engaged who would, rightly in our opinion, advise their client not to sign the agreement.

Without transparency, a buyer doesn't really know what they're getting into. Therefore, in our mind, reservation agreements are a form of "entrapment" - the agent is effectively penalising a buyer for withdrawing from a sale where the same agent has failed to provide full disclosure as they are legally obligated to do under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

Its another example of shortcuts in estate agency which gives yet more reasons for the public not to trust the profession.

The enemy here is misaligned incentives - similar to the referral fees scandal that is currently blighting property transactions and is arguably the biggest driver in lengthy transaction times - more risk is transferred to the buyer and seller because a property isn't being set up for success from day one.

And let's not forget, The Old Guard still gets paid regardless of whether or not people actually move home.

What This Means For The Maverick Movement

These three reforms aren't the revolution. They're an indicator of its necessity.

The Maverick Movement isn't waiting for regulation to arrive before raising the standard. The best of the best are already preparing seller packs on day one. Already guiding clients through fast-track ID checks. Already having transparent conversations about commitment before marketing. Already behaving as if the client's time, money, and mental health matter more than the path of least resistance.

That's not unusual for a Maverick. It's the minimum.

What these proposed reforms confirm is that the direction of travel is set. The industry is being pushed — however slowly, however reluctantly — toward the system Mavericks have already chosen to embody. Transparency first. Certainty early. Speed as a standard, not a luxury.

The Old Guard will resist. They always do. That's fine. They can fax their objections over.

The Maverick Way

WiggyWam already provides the infrastructure to leapfrog these reforms: upfront property information, coordinated professional communication, and a platform that connects every party — buyer, seller, Property Maverick, Magic Circle Maverick, Finance Maverick — under one digital roof.

The question isn't whether the system will change. It's whether you'll lead that change or have it forced on you.

If you're ready to raise the standard — not because the regulator told you to, but because you know it's right — find out what it means to be a Property Maverick at: https://wiggywam.co.uk/pmapplication

The Maverick Movement: One united mission. Under one digital roof. To get Britain moving.