The government has just described the listing we already publish

open for offer lets you test the market before you list. Your home sits in the pre-market, buyers register interest, and nothing is advertised.

On 19 June the government set out how buying and selling a home in England and Wales will change.

Sellers will put the facts about a property in front of buyers before it is listed: the title, the energy rating, the flood risk, the chain.

Buyers will be able to prove who they are digitally. The trust framework behind that came into force at the start of September.

Later, once the information is routine, offers will be able to become binding earlier, so fewer sales collapse.

The reasons are not in dispute. A sale takes about 120 days from offer to completion. Roughly one in three falls through.

In polling the government cited when it consulted, only 2% of home movers said they had enough information before they made an offer.

What the reform asks for, and where it already is

Take a property page on open for offer. The energy rating is there, from the EPC register. The flood risk is there, from Environment Agency data.

The sold-price history is there too, from HM Land Registry, with the date of each sale.

None of it is typed in by the seller. It is drawn from the same public records the reform intends to standardise.

The page exists whether or not the owner has heard of us. We hold records on 14.4 million homes in England and Wales, built from HM Land Registry sold prices.

Our market estimate is based on the home's last recorded sale, adjusted for price movement since, using HM Land Registry data.

It is labelled an estimate, not a valuation, and its source sits beside it on the page.

The roadmap talks about trusted data with a known origin. That is the only kind we publish.

The one thing the reform leaves out

The roadmap puts information before the offer and commitment after it. On the offer itself it is quiet. It does not propose that a buyer should know what another buyer has put forward.

That is the gap open for offer was built to close. Interest in a home goes into the queue on its property page: how much interest there is, and nothing that identifies anyone.

A seller sees real interest before deciding anything. A buyer sees the same queue.

A traditional listing is a public, one-way event. You can cut the price. You cannot un-list. The queue means you find out what the market thinks before you have to do either.

What it costs

Your market estimate costs nothing. Putting your home in front of buyers on the pre-market is £9.99 a month, with no minimum term. You cancel it yourself, online, from the billing portal.

If you sell to a buyer we introduced you to, we charge 0.5% plus VAT on the price agreed, less everything you have already paid us.

There is no advert, no board, and no viewings until you are ready.

What comes next

The government says a code of practice for agents and guidance on listing information follow later this year, with legislation after that.

We will keep publishing each item as it is confirmed, and the one item that is not on the list.

Separately, the Department for Business and Trade is asking whether property should have a smart data scheme, so a home's records move at the owner's instruction. That call for evidence closes on 1 October.

If you are wondering what your home is worth to a buyer today, the quickest way to find out is to ask them.

Get your market estimate · Test the market on your home · Get started