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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of unpredictable housing transaction timelines on removals and storage businesses and the ability of those businesses to meet demand.

The home buying and selling process in England is cumbersome , taking an average of nearly five months to complete and a third of transactions fall through – this is holding up the property market.

We believe an improved home buying and selling system that is more efficient has the potential to help people move into their homes more quickly and plan their moves with more certainty. This will benefit the storage and removals sector by enabling more predictable moving timelines, helping businesses anticipate demand more effectively.

On 9 February we announced action to improve home buying and selling by digitalising the process. In collaboration with HM Land Registry, we are working with local authorities to digitise property data, introduce common data standards, and enable digital identity services for the property sector. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-land-registry-local-land-charges-programme/local-land-charges-programme.