Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will update the Estate Agents Act 1979 to ensure that the security of the paper based system for the conveyancing of properties is retained.

Last year we signalled our intention in the Levelling Up White Paper to work with industry to improve the home buying and selling process. We are currently developing a detailed plan to take this work forward, including digitalisation of the residential property sector and improving the quality of upfront information.