According to the findings, a massive 115,000 home moves have been delayed each year because funds didn’t arrive on time and sellers took longer to vacate properties; while a shocking 20,500 moves had to be cancelled altogether because of funds not arriving in time.
The survey found movers in a property chain are more likely to be affected by delays, with 25% reporting delays or cancellations on moving day.
What’s more, homeowners who experience delays or cancellations are faced with more than just inconvenience with 26% of those affected incurring costs of, on average, £509 and one in seven (14%) losing over £1000.
Typical costs include hourly waiting charges from removal companies (39%), storage fees (27%), removal company cancellation charges (16%), hotel/ accommodation costs (15%) and late completion charges (9%).
Meanwhile, one in three homeowners (34%) who bought in the past two years chased either their conveyancer or lender on moving day to check the status of funds.
Paula Higgins, Chief Executive of HomeOwners Alliance says: “It's ridiculous that in this day and age, where the rest of our lives run smoothly and more efficiently, that moving day nightmares are getting worse.
The number of homeowners having to cancel their moving day – often losing hundreds of pounds in the process - is up 2% on a decade ago while the percentage of sellers experiencing inconvenient delays has jumped from 12% to 19%. It’s scandalous that moving house is more difficult than it’s ever been. Clearly, more needs to be done to streamline processes and put customers first. The government has stated it wants to improve the house-buying/selling process, is this really such a hard nut for industry to crack?”
Additional findings from the research indicate that costs associated with fund transfers and the lack of certainty and transparency over the whereabouts of funds are common issues for homeowners. Conveyancer/ solicitor transfer fees (30%), bank transfer fees (17%), uncertainty the transfer reached the conveyancer in time (19%), uncertainty mortgage funds reached the conveyancer in time (19%), lack of transparency over whereabouts of money during the payment process (13%) are all difficulties for homeowners with the current home purchase process.
Geoff Dunnett, Director of Real Estate at Shieldpay, says: “Moving house is stressful enough without further delays at crunch point. For the most part, homeowners are helpless when things go wrong and it’s rarely their fault. Real time digital payments have the power to change the system for the better, saving time, money and a great deal of stress.
Shieldpay’s instant digital escrow solution brings efficiency, transparency and certainty to the most critical part of any real estate transaction. The status of funds is visible at any time and enables parties to complete on transactions anytime, anywhere – even on the weekend.”
