Islanders call for major change to home buying system

Wednesday 04 October 2017

A widow in her 80s was left with a bill of more than £10,000 after her house sale fell through at the last minute, as the purchasers didn't have the money to buy it.

Mrs A Hall was not informed that the couple due to buy her home had not yet secured their mortgage until nearly four weeks after the original planned sale date - she was one of many to call for better protections for home vendors at a Domestic Property Transactions Scrutiny Panel hearing yesterday.

The Panel - chaired by St Mary Deputy David Johnson - was set up last year to examine potential issues with Jersey’s current home buying and selling system. Hearings held yesterday with members of the public, the judiciary, consumer groups and lawyers marked the final phase of that investigation.

In a submission, Mrs Hall said that she had been keen to sell her house, as it was “too big for one person.”

“I have to drive as the buses were taken away over 20 years ago and now the pillar box within walking distance has been closed. I live down a lane with only one other house… No doctor or ambulance would find me if I were taken ill,” the pensioner said.

Having found a willing buyer for her house in October 2015, she hoped that the transaction would be completed by January. In the interim, she found herself a potential new home, put down a deposit of £2,000 and paid for new flooring in the property, and arranged for removals and utilities to be set up.

Pictured: Mrs Hall didn't feel she could go through with the sale of her home after numerous delays.

But the completion date was changed four times before Mrs Hall finally decided to give up on the sale,  with the interested buyers still yet to settle their mortgage. “I don’t know who was being economical with the truth, but I could not take the stress any longer. I am a widow aged 82 with no relative to help me, and as I value my health more than any savings I decided to end the sale… Is there something wrong with me, or is it partly the system to blame, or just hard luck?” 

Speaking at yesterday’s panel, she, along with other members of the public and representatives from the Consumer Council, said that mandatory pre-sale contracts could help with such situations, whilst also calling for Royal Court transactions to be held on a different day of the week.

While they agreed that sales going through the Court on a Friday afternoon was a “lovely” traditional feature of Jersey’s system, the Panel heard that it was impractical because the handover of keys that same day incurred the “difficult” task of arranging utilities and removals over the weekend or having to wait in temporary accommodation until the following week.

But the Bailiff argued in a letter to the Panel that changing the day was unlikely to be feasible. “We already have a crowded court diary, and having multiple occasions on which contracts might be passed would be very difficult to manage and disruptive to other court users,” he wrote.

Pictured: The Bailiff said that it would be difficult to change the Royal Court property transactions day because of the court's "crowded" diary.

To remedy this, one member of the public suggested adopting a similar system to South Africa in which the date of occupation and completion of property contracts are separated in order that buyers who have already sold their homes are not left without accommodation while the finer contractual details are ironed out. 

The Consumer Council - represented by Chair Advocate Rose Colley and Executive Officer Anne King - added that local conveyancers should consider simplifying the language used in contracts so that buyers and sellers have a greater understanding of what they’re signing. The issue with the legal speak used at present, they argued, was that some islanders are either too embarrassed to ask for clarification from their conveyancers or worry about additional fees as a result of conversations over it.

Advocate Colley added that a simple question and answer sheet for sellers to fill out could also help alleviate delays in obtaining basic information for buyers, as is standard practice in the UK. “We are in 2017… It doesn’t take a genius to compile a group of questions that apply to most properties,” she said.

The Consumer Council representatives appealed for estate agents to be independently regulated in the same way as the financial services, arguing that it would help customers wishing to pursue complaints for bad practice or advice.

Pictured: Advocate Rose Colley, Chair of the Consumer Council, said that property contracts should be written in simpler English so that both vendor and purchaser can fully understand the terms of the sale.

Speaking to Express following the Hearing, President of the Jersey Estate Agents Association (JEAA) John Quemard, welcomed the idea of regulation. He said that companies signed up to the JEAA, which represents around a third of Jersey's 40 estate agents, were voluntarily regulated by the national regulator, and felt that it would be beneficial to have all on “a level playing field.”

Nonetheless, Mr Quemard felt that Jersey did not need its own body. Following the existing UK regulator would mean that the island would not constantly have to play catch-up when new recommendations are introduced, he argued.

"The local association has been going since 1965 with a local theme to it, but really so as not to be left behind or two paces back, we’ve tried to keep pace with what the UK are doing, which is why we’ve engineered it so that all our members now follow what the UK require... if you leave it to local you could be left behind the times and become outdated," he said.