Property logbooks
Property logbooks reduce the stress of moving and managing your home. They make the process of buying, selling and managing your home easier. We call a property logbook a twindig (a digital twin of your home), which allows you to have all the information you need to move and manage your home at your fingertips.
Property logbooks make selling your home easier
Moving or selling your home is a very stressful experience. Anxiety UK reported that two-thirds of people voted moving house at the top of their stress list, with it triggering more anxiety than relationship breakdowns, divorce and starting a new job.
Chief Executive of Anxiety UK Nicky Lidbetter says “It’s one of life’s most stressful experiences, and it’s because it involves having to cope with change. Moving house represents a transition in life, it’s about change and unfamiliarity and for many people that causes stress and anxiety. Most of us like familiarity, routine and order. When you’re moving, you have none of those.”
Whilst a property logbook cannot take all the stress away, it can reduce it. They say that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. There are many things you will have to do to sell your home, a property logbook allows you to prepare in advance. By getting all your important documents in one place before you formally start the buying and selling process, you free up time
o focus on the fun things rather than worry about the paperwork. Having your paperwork and documents prepared in advance allows for a smoother less stressful sale process.
Property logbooks make buying a home easier
Just like selling a home, buying a home is also stressful. Buying a home is the biggest purchase you will probably ever make, and you cannot get all the information you need from just viewing a property. Did you notice if the boiler had recently been serviced? How long has it been since the wiring was inspected? Did the extension get full planning and building control sign off?
If the seller has a property logbook all that information will be available to you, and your lawyers to check before you make your offer, before you commit too much time and a lot of money into a transaction that may not complete. There is no reason why the seller wouldn’t want to share this information if it helped them find the right buyer.
Property logbooks make managing your home easier
A property logbook should be a living breathing document, it is there to help you and do the heavy lifting of managing your home. You can securely store documents so that you never lose them and find them with ease. You can set reminders for home maintenance and insurance/utilities so that you can secure the best deals. You can log all that information you never know you need to remember until you need it.
- Buying replacement bulbs – what size do we need? – look it up in your logbook
- What colour paint is in the spare room? – look it up in your logbook
- Will that piece of furniture fit? – look it up in your logbook
- What size blinds do we need? – look it up in your logbook
- Where is the warranty/instruction book for the TV? – look it up in your logbook
Government support for property logbooks
The Government is so impressed with property logbooks they might encourage every home to have one
Recently the Government looked at ways of making the home buying and selling process easier. They said that in England the current process is not fit for purpose
- “It is stressful, time-consuming and costly for buyers and sellers alike – with over a quarter of house sales falling through each year."
- "That is why this government has committed to reform the process so it works for buyers and sellers and not against them"
The Government launched a call for evidence about the house buying and selling process. One of the questions they asked was “
Should sellers be required to provide more information before they market their property?”
There was a strong rate of response to this question, 85% of organisations and 80% of individuals were in favour of sellers providing more information upfront and 630 people took the time to provide written responses to this question.
The Government’s response to this call for evidence was clear
- It is clear from these responses that there is a huge level of support for sellers providing information upfront –
- Our long term vision is of a system where all sellers provide search information upfront before offers are made. This may come about due to increased digitalisation of records or the development of a property logbook.
- We also want to work with HM Land Registry and industry (especially PropTech firms) to explore the potential to develop a property logbook. We believe that in the longer term this has real potential to speed up the process and could contain title and leasehold information, building certificates, searches and even past surveys.
You can read the full report here Improving the home buying and selling process
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/syste
Sign up for your free Twindig digital property logbook
Twindig is a property platform which has details of every home across the country and offers all households, whether renting, buying with a mortgage or owned outright a free digital property logbook where you can securely store digital documents, check the valuation of your home or any other home across the country and sign up for a free monthly home valuation report.
Property logbooks don’t just take our word for it
We appreciate that as a provider of property logbooks, we are biased. However, we truly believe that property logbooks will make the process of buying, selling and managing your home much easier and less stressful, but don’t take our word for it – we summarise the main news coverage about property logbooks below:
Property Logbooks: New bid to make them part of sales process
26 Oct 2020
Estate Agent Today
Another attempt is being made to introduce property logbooks to the selling and buying process, and agents are invited to play a part.
The concept is now some years old and has been trying to gain a foothold in the buying process.
A form of additional upfront information to help buyers is supported in principle by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which wants to see increased transparency and simplicity in the process.
Read the full article Property Logbooks: New bid to make them part of sales process
They’re coming! Property logbooks set to be trialled in Spring next year
23 Oct 2020
The Negotiator
Property logbooks for every home in the UK took a giant step towards reality yesterday following the inaugural meeting of the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA), attended by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government representative Matt Prior.
The aim is that every residential property transaction will be supported by one whether sales or lettings, with a trial scheduled for March or April next year.
Read the full article - They're coming! Property logbooks
Property Log Books Move a Step Closer
23 Oct 2020
Today’s conveyancer
Yesterday the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) held its inaugural stakeholders meeting supported by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (Matt Prior). The Association has been set up by four founding members, originally a subcommittee of the Home Buying and Selling Group (HBSG). The founders are Nigel Walley, chairman, Tim Main, Simon Lumb and David Graydon.
The initial aim of the RLBA is to define a logbook, set a data standard and establish an industry register. Just defining a logbook is more complex than it sounds but assisted by leading industry stakeholders good progress is being made. Each logbook will have a core data set that will identify it.
Property Log Books Move a Step Closer
4 August 2020
The Negotiator
Property log books – registration documents for every house
During the run-up to last year’s General Election industry association Propertymark called for the Government to introduce digital logbooks for every property in the UK.
While this didn’t achieve the cut through that Boris’ £300m NHS bus slogan generated, it has prompted the industry and the government to act since the election.
Everyone involved agrees that they are backing logbooks because agents, Trading Standards, local authorities, conveyancers and sales progression staff will profit from using them.
Their claimed benefits include cutting down the number of failed property transactions in the housing market, preventing fraud, speeding up the process of property buying and selling and facilitating easier property licensing.
Read the full article - Property log books – registration documents for every house
Work begins on property logbooks to speed up conveyancing
15 June 2020
Law Gazette
The Home Buying and Selling Group, which comprises various representative groups including the Law Society, has set up a working group to look at how to securely provide a logbook, which would be a digital file containing the key data needed to complete a property transaction
The logbook would be transferable between homeowners. The information, which would grow over the life of a property, would be formatted so that it could be integrated into other digital systems run by estate agents, local authorities and conveyancers. The government has already indicated that it would support property logbooks.
Read the full article - Work begins on property logbooks to speed up conveyancing
Property logbooks next on list for home-buying reform
15 June 2020
Legal Futures
The property logbook is the next initiative to be investigated as part of work to speed up the home-moving process, although lockdown has hit other projects.
The Home Buying & Selling Group (HBSG) – a stakeholder body of around 120 organisations advising the government – has set up a working party to look at the issue of property logbooks.
It follows on from the Hackitt report’s recommendation for a digital record for every building – what it called a “golden thread of information”.
Dame Judith Hackitt reported in 2018 on her independent review of building regulations and fire safety, set up in the wake of the Grenfell disaster.
Read the full article - Property logbooks next on list for home-buying reform
Property Logbooks: working party to consider how they could work
15 June 2020
Estate Agent Today
A working party of property professionals is being set up to look at whether and how property logbooks could help speed up transactions and deter fall-throughs.
The Home Buying & Selling Group - involving representatives from the agency, legal and finance sectors, and feeding ideas through to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - is setting up the working party to see how logbooks could be integrated into other online processes being developed by the industry.
Read the full article Property Logbooks: working party to consider how they could work
The Home Buying & Selling Group (HBSG) has set up a working party to look at the issue of property logbooks.
14 June 2020
Best Advice
Following on from the Hackitt report’s recommendation for a digital record for every building – what Hackitt called a “golden thread of information” – the HBSG is looking at how to provide this in a standard, secure way and how to incorporate it into the new online processes being developed by the property industry.
Read the full article - HBSG has set up a working party to look at the issue of property logbooks
HBSG working party to address property logbooks
12 June 2020
Mortgage Introducer
The Home Buying & Selling Group (HBSG) has set up a working party to look specifically at the issue of property logbooks.
The Hackitt Report, published in May 2018, recommended a digital record for every building – referred to as a “golden thread of information.”
The HBSG is looking at how to provide this in a standard, secure way and how to incorporate it into the new online processes being developed by the property industry.
Read the full article - HBSG working party to address property logbooks
Property Log Books - PropTech expert wants cross-industry support
6 Mar 2020
Estate Agent Today
Stuart Young, managing director of Etive, says the case for the log books hasn’t just been championed by organisations like the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Conveyancing Association, the government’s Home Buying and Selling Group and the NAEA.
It has now even been backed by Dame Judith Hackett’s report following the Grenfell Tower fire where she said “creating a golden thread of information” about a property could be used to demonstrate the safety of a building throughout its life.
“So the need for Property Log Books is clear” claims Young, adding: “The challenge is to agree a national standard that works and then convince consumers that it is a requirement worth investing time and energy in, for a sale that may be decades away.”
Read the full article - Property Log Books - PropTech expert wants cross-industry support
Could a property 'Logbook' speed up the conveyancing process?
26 Nov 18
Lexology
At the Annual mortgage Conference held earlier this month, government officials criticised the delays in current conveyancing processes. It was stated that it takes an average of 19 weeks to get from acceptance of an offer to completion. One of the speakers, Matt Prior an official from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said that this was "a hell of a long time to wait".
The solution that was proposed was in the form of a logbook for your house. This logbook would provide a pack of information that is updated by each owner of the property and then provided to the new buyer at the start of the conveyancing process. The rationale behind this is that it would help avoid abortive transactions and therefore wasted costs for all parties - as the information is ready and available from the outset and not some horrible discovery later down the line. This approach is supported by the Conveyancing Association.
Read the full article - Could a property 'Logbook' speed up the conveyancing process?
Homebuyers should get property log book, says Phil Spencer
25 Nov 2018
Business Matters
Homes should come with a “property log book” detailing their history in the same way as a car, TV expert Phil Spencer has suggested.
The Location, Location, Location presenter said this could help buyers avoid “nasty surprises”.
Read the full article - Home buyers should get property log book, says Phil Spencer
Government backs property logbooks to speed conveyancing
7 Nov 2018
Law Gazette
The government is likely to push sellers to provide more up front information about their property before it goes on the market to make the homebuying process quicker, cheaper and less stressful.
Advocating a property logbook, which the Law Society and Conveyancing Association have called for, Prior pointed out that when someone is buying a property, 'you go through the conveyancing process, you buy the house, you receive a perfect pack of information that describes the property at that moment - and you throw that away. We think that's quite wasteful. Some of [the information] does not change'.
Highlighting the pressure on the 4,500 conveyancers in the market, Prior told the conference: 'I've often said, if conveyancers were running a restaurant, they would spend more time gathering the ingredients than preparing the meal. It's an information-driven business. There are a million different parties to interact with, doing all the things the client wants, worrying about what the other side is doing.'
Read the full article - Government backs property logbooks to speed conveyancing
Time is right for digital property logbook to modernise homebuying process
19 Oct 2018
Mortgage Solutions
The Conveyancing Association (CA) believes digital property logbooks could be an efficient way to speed up and ease homebuying without being as cumbersome as Home Information Packs (HIPs).
The idea was backed by the HomeOwners Alliance (HOA), which suggested it should be started with new build properties, while the Residential Property Surveyors Association also applauded it.
Speaking at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum seminar, The future for the home buying process, CA director of delivery Beth Rudolf suggested this could create a modern conveyancing process.
“We could develop some upfront provision of information and put it into a property log book,” she said.
“[We could] put search data in there, title, rights, reservations, restriction, basic survey information, the seller’s data and leasehold details.”
Read the full article - Time is right for digital property logbook to modernise homebuying process