Does Labour finally have a plan to save the housing market from itself?

A good idea from the current government is a rare and precious thing. Which brings us to its attempt to fix the miserable process of trying to buy a home in England.

Housing secretary Steve Reed has come up with a good soundbite to sell it: “Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare.” It is too often the latter under the current system. Sellers and estate agents will be legally required to provide key information up front. This will include details on the condition of the property (so: a survey), council tax band, energy performance rating, property type, legal and transactional information, leasehold terms, building safety data, standard searches, service charges, planning consents, flood risk data, chain status, and clear floor plans.

That’s a lot. It’s what buyers end up having to establish - and shell out for - when they find a property they like. I suspect that at least some of them will still want their own survey even if this goes through. Good news for surveyors, I guess.

There will also be the “option” of an early exchange of contracts, with fines for those who break them. The government thinks this could lop four weeks off the five months it takes on average for deals to go through and save first time buyers up to £710.

What’s more, it hopes to halve the number of failed sales. There’s a lot to be gained from the latter. Not only do they represent a misery pill for those who suffer from this - and I’ve experienced it from both sides - they also cost the economy an estimated £1.5bn a year.

If Reed pulls this off, it would be a big win for those contemplating entering the hell of a profoundly dysfunctional market, but also for a success-starved government.

We have been here before. Labour made an attempt at reforming the housing market the last time it was in office with Home Information Packs (Hips). Remember that old adage “the road to hell is paved with good intention”? Hips were that.

Just like this time around, the idea was launched with great fanfare. We were told that we were on the road to a shiny new housing nirvana. That is until people started picking apart the policy and furiously objecting to the bits they didn’t like.

Popularly known as a “sellers pack”, Hips were supposed to include a Home Condition Report (HCR), including a basic structural survey with details of any interior or exterior problems and information on outbuildings, walls, fences and the like.

But these were all dropped, with critics at the time accusing the government of losing its nerve and poor preparation, ripping the guts of the policy. Hips still included local and environmental searches, details of leases and pending or previous planning permission applications, copies of warranties and energy performance certificates.

Consumer groups were left aghast. Nick Stace, the campaigns and communications director at Which?, wrote a furious letter to the government which said: "The new Department for the Communities is not worthy of its title. It seems incapable of defending people in our communities making the biggest purchasing decision of their lives.”

Needless to say, there were still big problems with what was left of the plans. For example, there weren’t enough people trained to deal with the energy certificates when they were launched. A phased introduction - at first only four bedroom properties were covered, although three bedroom homes were added shortly after - caused disruption in some sections of the market.

Critics said Hips made the home-buying process worse not better by adding extra costs and red tape. They did little to stop the misery pill of a failed sale and there were few tears shed when the coalition government, led by David Cameron, ultimately scrapped them.

Can we expect better this time? One would hope Mr Reed has at least had a word in Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper’s shell-like. She banged the drum for the (broken) Hips as housing minister.

These are early days, obviously, and the plans will go out to consultation, something welcomed by the likes of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICs) which complained bitterly at what it saw as the lack of the latter last time around.

Of course, the danger is that the exercise will lead to a chorus of people saying yes, of course we’d all like to see a faster, smoother property market - but you can’t do this, and you can’t do that, and so on. Another problem with the market then, as now, was a shortage of supply. These reforms are inevitably going to cause disruption to the market. They will add to sellers’ costs and might add some unnecessary froth to prices if they end up leading to the latter sitting on their hands.

The government needs to be ready for this. The housing market is a problem that needs fixing. Doing so, however will require courage, fortitude and competence. The latter, in particular, has not been a notable feature of the current administration. I have many questions and many doubts. But I hope to be proved wrong.