Home-buying process: Projects should improve speed and trust
Two projects that aim to speed up the home-buying process have received £1.75m in government backing from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund.
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has been awarded £742,700 to help develop a property trust data framework, while Land Data has received just shy of £1m to building the next generation of the National Land Information Service (NLIS), giving access to official conveyancing searches and requests for upfront information.
Both projects will run for 12 months.
The CLC is working with the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) and Raidiam, pioneer of Open Banking – which allows people to securely share their financial data with authorised third parties – to create what is believed to be the first framework for digitising property data and enabling its safe and secure sharing among all parties involved in a transaction.
“Early estimates suggest this approach, which would see conveyancers able to access the data they need in one place instead of multiple different sources, and see exactly where it has come from, could reduce the time, cost and risk involved in property transactions by up to two-thirds,” the regulator said.
The framework, which will bring together data from bodies such as HM Land Registry, local authorities and conveyancers, is supported by the Digital Property Market Steering Group and, if implemented, would provide an open standard to support interoperability across the property market.
The CLC is managing the project, which will see Raidiam leading sandbox testing of the technical infrastructure needed to underpin the regulatory, security and governance standards for firms that need to access and share property data.
The OPDA will lead the work on standards and industry engagement, and manage collaboration across all stakeholders.
CLC chief executive Sheila Kumar said: “This is a significant and hugely exciting step forward in transforming the home-buying and selling process, which for far too long has been held back by inefficiencies including a lack of unified standards, contributing to around one in three transactions falling through.
“Like Open Banking, this project has the potential to deliver the blueprint for a seamless, efficient and truly transparent experience for consumers.”
Maria Harris, chair of OPDA, added: “We have been campaigning for secure trust and open data standards since our inception in June 2023. Now, with this funding, we can start to evidence the impact and the improvements it will bring.
“This project will test and demonstrate data sharing in a safe, compliant and cost-effective way, serving as a proof point for digital transformation in the property market.
“By embedding open standards and improving the way that data is shared between buyers, sellers, lenders, conveyancers, and estate agents, we can bring the housing market into the digital age.”
The project will conclude with publication of a final report and recommendations for smart data implementation across not just the property sector but the wider UK economy.
Land Data, which regulates official conveyancing searches managed by NLIS, said the next generation of the system would give conveyancers and others access to high-quality, real-time data from local authorities and other official data sources.
“It will provide greater market transparency, enable local authorities to sustainably maintain their data, improve search turnaround times for consumers, and unlock innovation in the property sector.”
Fiona Barron, chief executive at Land Data, added: “Crucially, this independent, technical and regulatory platform will benefit the market as a whole.
“It will help bring greater certainty and assurance to home buyers and sellers by ensuring that the data underpinning property transactions is current, accurate, and delivered with provenance, meaning it comes directly from trusted central and local government sources.”
In a statement, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s home buying and selling team, said: “As part of our wider ambition to reform and improve the home-buying and selling process in England and Wales, we recognise the critical role that timely, accurate and authoritative property information plays in reducing transaction fall throughs and delays, alongside improving consumer confidence.
“Land Data’s proposed framework aligns with government priorities to streamline access to official data from local authorities and other statutory providers; support the availability of upfront information; and enable innovation through data standardisation and improved interoperability.
“We see clear potential in Land Data’s initiative to modernise and future-proof the official search infrastructure.”
The Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, administered by the Regulatory Innovation Office, part of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, has handed out £8.9m to 16 projects in total.
It provides grants of up to £1m for projects from regulators and local authorities that aim to help create a regulatory environment that encourages business innovation and growth.
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