A shake-up to the house-buying system which could cut a month off the time it takes – and slash around £700 from the moving bill – is on the table.

Changes could include requiring property sellers and estate agents to provide more information when a home is listed for sale, reducing the need for buyers to carry out searches and surveys.

Binding contracts could also be introduced at an earlier stage, reducing the risk of a chain collapsing.

The proposals could also deliver clearer information to consumers about estate agents and conveyancers, including their track record and expertise, along with new mandatory qualifications and a code of practice to drive up standards.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the proposals, which are the subject of a consultation, would help make “a simple dream, a simple reality”.

The government says it will set out a full roadmap in the new year after consulting on its proposals.

Mr Reed said: “Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare.

“Our reforms will fix the broken system so hardworking people can focus on the next chapter of their lives.”

Officials believe the proposed package of reforms could cut around a month off the time it takes to buy a new home and save first-time buyers an average of £710.

People selling a home could face increased costs of around £310 due to the inclusion of upfront assessments and surveys.

Those in the middle of a chain would potentially gain a net saving of £400 as a result of the increased costs from selling being outweighed by lower buying expenses.

Wider use of online processes, including digital ID, could help make transactions smoother, the government argued, pointing to the Finnish digital real estate system which can see the process completed in around two weeks.

The consultation also draws on other jurisdictions, including the Scottish system where there is more upfront information and earlier binding contracts.

‘Process the same as for our grandparents’

The planned shake-up was welcomed by property websites and lenders.

Rightmove chief executive Johan Svanstrom said: “The home-moving process involves many fragmented parts, and there’s simply too much uncertainty and costs along the way.

“Speed, connected data and stakeholder simplicity should be key goals. We believe it’s important to listen to agents as the experts for what practical changes will be most effective, and we look forward to working with the government on this effort to improve the buying and selling process.”

Santander’s head of homes David Morris said: “At a time when technology has changed many processes in our lives, it is incredible that the process of buying a home – an activity that is a cornerstone of our economy – remains much the same for today’s buyers as it did for their grandparents.”

Conservative shadow housing minister Paul Holmes said that while Labour welcomed steps to digitise and speed up the process, the party risked “reinventing the last Labour government’s failed Home Information Packs – which reduced the number of homes put on sale, and duplicated costs across buyers and sellers”.

The streets of Britain have turned into “theatres of intimidation”, Kemi Badenoch has warned in a speech to mark the opening of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

Speaking just days after a terror attack at a synagogue in the city left two people dead, the Tory leader claimed extremism “has gone unchecked” in the UK.

Politics live: Government grants police new powers in crackdown on repeat protests

She said this had manifested in Pro-Palestine protests which are “in fact carnivals of hatred directed at the Jewish homeland”.

She cited the use of “asinine slogans” such as ‘Globalise the Intifada’, saying this “means nothing at all, if it doesn’t mean targeting Jewish people for violence”.

Ms Badenoch added: “So the message from this conference, from this party, from every decent and right-thinking person in this country must be that we will not stand for it any more. We cannot import and tolerate values hostile to our own.

“We must now draw a line and say that in Britain you can think what you like, and within the bounds of the law you can say what you like, but you have no right to turn our streets into the theatres of intimidation and we will not let you do so any more.“

Ms Badenoch has said she supports the government’s efforts to impose restrictions on repeat protests in light of the Manchester terror attack.

Nearly 500 people were arrested over protests supporting the proscribed group Palestine Action in central London on Saturday.

Demonstrators defied calls from political leaders, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, to reconsider the event out of respect for the grief of the British Jewish community.

The chief of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, also called for the event to be postponed, saying he was worried resources would be stretched and the ability of the force to protect communities would be compromised.

ECHR plan ‘not vague mush’

Elsewhere in her speech, Ms Badenoch spoke about her policy to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and carry out “ICE-style” deportations if she wins the next election.

She said that shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Alex Burghart will lead a review into a union-wide implementation of leaving the ECHR, so voters have “a clear, thorough and robust plan, not the vague mush that we see day in, day out from Labour, nor the vacuous posturing that we see day in, day out from Reform”.

The plan has been condemned by Former Conservative justice secretary and Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland, who lost his seat at the 2024 election.

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Active plot against Kemi Badenoch at this party conference in Manchester

“I have seen first-hand how deeply this issue touches our constitution, our Union, and our international standing. It would be a profound mistake to go down this path,” he wrote in an article for Conservative Home.

The comments reflect how the issue has long divided the party, with “one nation” moderates like Mr Buckland opposed to the idea of leaving the ECHR, and others seeing it as necessary to get a grip on illegal migration and tackle Reform UK.

In a sign she won’t shy away from that fight, Ms Badenoch told GB News earlier that every Conservative candidate must sign up to her plan to leave the ECHR, or they would be barred from standing at the next election.

‘Mountain to climb’

The Tories are languishing in the polls behind Reform and Labour after suffering their worst-ever defeat at the election last year.

Ms Badenoch, who was elected to lead the party last November, ended her speech acknowledging there was a “mountain to climb” but insisting she was up for the fight.

“Britain needs deep change. But I reject the politics that everything must go, that everything must be torn down, that everything is broken,” she said.

“If we leave it to Labour or Reform, Britain will be divided. Only the Conservatives can bring this country back together.

“So, I say to you all as we start our conference, yes, we have a mountain to climb, but we have a song in our hearts, and we are up for the fight.”

Police have been granted new powers to impose conditions on repeat protests to “close a gap in the law”, the home secretary has said.

Shabana Mahmood told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the changes, announced earlier in the day, would allow communities to “go about their daily business without feeling intimidated”.

Politics Live: Conservative party conference gets under way

It follows the arrests of nearly 500 people during demonstrations in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action in central London on Saturday.

Protesters defied calls to rethink the event in the wake of the Manchester synagogue terror attack on Thursday, in which two Jewish worshippers were killed.

The new powers will allow police forces to consider the “cumulative impact” of protests, assessing previous activity, when deciding to impose limits on protesters.

The limits that could be imposed include moving demonstrators to a different place or “restricting the time that those protests can occur”, Ms Mahmood said.

She added: “It’s been clear to me in conversations in the last couple of days that there is a gap in the law and there is an inconsistency of practice.

“So I’ll be taking measures immediately to put that right and I will be reviewing our wider protest legislation as well, to make sure the arrangements we have can meet the scale of the challenge that we face.”

The changes will be made through amendments to the Public Order Act, and anyone who breaches the new conditions will risk arrest and prosecution.

‘More flexibility to prevent disruptive protests’

The home secretary has written to chief constables in England and Wales to explain the new powers.

She wrote: “The government will bring forward legislation to increase the powers available to you to tackle the repeated disruptive protests we have seen and continue to provide the reassurance to communities that they need.

“Through upcoming legislation, we will amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to allow senior officers to consider the cumulative impact of protests on local communities when they are imposing conditions on public processions and assemblies.

“This will allow you more flexibility to prevent disruptive protests from attending the same location and instruct organisers to move to a different site.”

The Greens and the Lib Dems said it was an attack on the right to protest.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski told Sky News: “Giving police sweeping powers to shut down protests because of their ‘cumulative impact’ is a cynical assault on the right to dissent. The whole point of protest is persistence; that’s how change happens. Do you think the suffragettes protested once and then gave up?”

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said this will “do nothing” to tackle antisemitism “while undermining the fundamental right to peaceful protest”.

Earlier, Ms Mahmood said the right to protest was a “fundamental freedom” but this must be balanced “with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear”.

In a statement she said: “Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes. 

“This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community, which has been expressed to me on many occasions in these recent difficult days.

“These changes mark an important step in ensuring we protect the right to protest while ensuring all feel safe in this country.”

Tories ‘will support’ measures

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said her party will “of course support” the new measures but asked why it took “so long” for them to be introduced.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she claimed that what happened in Manchester was foreseeable and not enough has been done to address fears over safety in the Jewish community.

Ms Mahmood addressed the Jewish communities’ concerns after being shown a clip of deputy prime minister David Lammy being heckled at a vigil on Friday.

She told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips the government “of course” hears their strength of feeling and is “committed to dealing with antisemitism in all of its forms”, pointing to the “strengthening” of police powers announced today.

Asked if the reaction to Mr Lammy reflected anger at the government’s decision to recognise a Palestine state, she said it was important not to “elide” Thursday’s attack with the situation in the Middle East.

“People are entitled to their views and of course we were there to hear those views. What I would say is that the attack that took place, the person that’s responsible for that attack is the attacker himself,” she said.

“And, of course, four other people are in custody and the police investigation does need to take its course. It’s important that we don’t elide that into the wider questions of what’s going on in the Middle East.”