A leading conveyancing industry chief says the one factor that would help improve the slow house buying process today would be the provision of upfront information.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Beth Rudolf, director of delivery at the Conveyacing Association, told listeners: “Unless the seller has been really ‘on it’ and got everything ready upfront when they decided to sell the property the conveyancers are in that awful position where they’ve got to wait for up to 10 different organisations to provide them with the information they need.”

She continued: “If we can get sellers … to collate their information together, they get their searches done themselves, if they’re selling a flat … then they get the leasehold information in, that means when a buyer is found they’ve got everything that the buyer needs, that their valuer needs, that their lender needs to be able to review the information.”

The programme spoke with a buyer who had an offer accepted on a London flat in September last year; he is renting so is not in a chain himself, but now in early April he still has no idea of an exchange or completion date. His mortgage offer ran out earlier this week but his bank has granted him a 15-day grace period.