Rejected petition Make property sales in England & Wales legally binding earlier, like in Scotland

The UK Government should reform conveyancing laws in England and Wales to mirror the Scottish system, where property sales become legally binding much earlier. This would reduce stress, financial risk, and delays for buyers and sellers.

More details

In England and Wales, a home sale isn’t legally binding until exchange of contracts, which can happen months after an offer is accepted. This leads to frequent fall-throughs, gazumping, wasted legal fees.

In Scotland, once missives are concluded, typically after mortgage approval and survey, the agreement becomes legally binding, offering certainty and protection for both sides.

This approach would:

- Reduce collapsed chains

- Prevent gazumping

- Protect buyers & sellers from financial loss

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign this petition which calls for a similar action: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/721744

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 18 June 2025
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