Try Before You Buy scheme announced by Government Ministers

The Government has unveiled plans today which will allow house-hunters to live in any property on the market for 24 hours before making a decision on a purchase.

In an expansion of the Help to Buy scheme, ministers say that giving buyers the chance to actually live in a property rather than just viewing will allow transactions to go through more efficiently - giving the market a welcome boost.

A statement sent to all estate agents today said: “We recognise the difficulty people have when deciding whether to purchase a new property after just one or two viewings, and we want to do all we can to streamline the house buying process.

“We were talking in the office yesterday and the idea just came to us out of the blue - as well as Help to Buy, why not Try Before You Buy?

“So when people view a property they can go along with an overnight bag and spend some quality time there, enabling them to get a really good feel for what the property is like.

“Who knows, if the vendors are up for it, they could just let their buyers stay in the property permanently if they like it - reducing the time it takes to buy a house from the current three or four months to just 24 hours.

“It will transform the whole house buying process literally overnight. We were so convinced it was a great idea we decided to announce it straight away.”

Ross D’Aniello, sales and marketing director here at Nock Deighton, said the policy prompted more questions than answers.

“For one thing, where are the vendors supposed to go when the potential buyer is staying in their house?” he said.

“It sounds like an April Fool’s Day joke to me, and thankfully that’s exactly what it is.

“If you want to find the perfect property, you don’t need to Try Before You Buy, you just need to speak to a trusted and knowledgeable estate agent who knows the local market.”