Maria Harris, chair of the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) explores the home buying and selling reform roadmap and how it links to the smart data agenda, and explains why it’s important for conveyancers to get involved sooner rather than later.
For decades, those of us working across the property sector have been describing the same problem. Buying and selling a home in England and Wales remains too slow, too fragmented and too uncertain.
What has been encouraging over the last year is that the conversation has evolved. We are no longer debating whether property transactions need to be modernised. We are increasingly focused on how we deliver that transformation and who is responsible for turning policy ambition into practical outcomes.
A series of developments has created genuine momentum.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced a programme of work to modernise homebuying, including improving access to property information, data sharing and digital services. The Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG) has evolved its governance structure and established delivery-focused workstreams to accelerate progress. At the same time, the Department for Business and Trade continues to develop a Smart Property Data Scheme through its wider smart data agenda.
Together, these initiatives present a significant opportunity to create a more efficient and transparent property market.
For OPDA, this is precisely the environment we were created to support. The challenge is no longer identifying the destination. It is building the standards, trust frameworks and accreditation mechanisms that will enable the entire ecosystem to get there together.
A clear signal of government intent
The government’s recent announcement on home buying transformation is one of the most significant policy statements the sector has seen in years.
Its core message is straightforward: property transactions need to become faster, more reliable and more transparent. The programme focuses on greater availability of digitised property information, improved sharing of data between trusted participants, enhanced interoperability across the transaction chain, wider adoption of digital identity services, and reducing duplication throughout the process.
There is also a clear commitment to mandating digital property transactions by 2029.
Importantly, government has recognised the value of industry collaboration, including OPDA-supported pilots aimed at opening up local authority data and accelerating digitalisation.
This matters because property transactions are fundamentally information transactions. Before a property can change hands, large volumes of information must be collected, verified and exchanged between multiple organisations.
Many of the delays and frustrations consumers experience stem from fragmented data, repeated requests for information and inconsistent access to trusted sources. Improving the flow of information therefore offers one of the most effective ways to improve customer outcomes while reducing risk across the process.
Moving from discussion to delivery
Under MHCLG’s leadership, the DPMSG has evolved from an important forum for collaboration into a more delivery-focused structure.
The property transaction involves a wide range of participants, including conveyancers, lenders, estate agents, local authorities, HM Land Registry and technology providers. No single organisation can deliver transformation alone.
The value of DPMSG is that it provides a framework for industry participants to align around shared objectives and practical implementation. That shift towards delivery is essential if policy ambitions are to translate into real improvements for consumers.
The wider smart data opportunity
Property sector transformation is also part of a broader national move towards smart data.
Government has identified several sectors where better use of data could deliver significant consumer benefits, including finance, energy, transport, digital services and property.
This broader perspective is important because consumers do not experience life through separate industry sectors. A home move can involve mortgages, insurance, utilities, identity verification, conveyancing, surveys, local authority information and financial services data.
When these systems operate in isolation, consumers bear the burden of repeating information and navigating complexity. Smart Data offers an opportunity to create more joined-up experiences while maintaining appropriate safeguards around consent, privacy and accountability.
Property therefore has an opportunity not only to modernise its own processes but also to demonstrate how trusted data sharing can deliver practical benefits for consumers.
Why standards matter
As enthusiasm for digital transformation grows, it is easy to focus on platforms and technology. However, successful digital ecosystems are built on standards.
Without common standards, digital processes simply risk recreating existing inefficiencies in a digital format.
OPDA’s mission has always been to support the creation, development and adoption of open standards that enable trusted property data exchange across the sector.
That includes common data standards, technical interoperability standards and the trust and governance frameworks needed to give consumers, businesses and regulators confidence in how information is exchanged and used.
These foundations are less visible than new technology, but they are ultimately what allow digital ecosystems to scale successfully.
From policy to practice
The convergence we are now seeing between government policy, industry leadership and smart data initiatives is significant.
MHCLG is driving homebuying reform. DPMSG provides a structure for industry collaboration and delivery. Government continues to advance the wider smart data agenda. Industry participants are increasingly aligning around shared objectives.
OPDA’s role is to help ensure the standards, trust frameworks and accreditation mechanisms exist to make these ambitions work in practice.
None of these initiatives will succeed in isolation. The real opportunity lies in connecting them.
After years of discussing the challenges facing the property market, the focus is finally shifting from diagnosis to delivery.
There is still much work to do. Standards must be adopted, systems must interoperate and organisations must embrace new ways of working. Debate and scrutiny will remain important as the sector evolves.
However, if we are serious about reducing delays, cutting duplication and improving certainty for consumers, the conversation can no longer be about whether change is needed. It must be about how we deliver it successfully.
About the author
Maria Harris chairs the Open Property Data Association (OPDA), which she founded in 2023 to improve home buying through digitised, trusted, interoperable property data. She represents OPDA across key industry and government groups, driving collaborative, customer-centric progress. Maria also provides mortgage transformation consultancy via Digital Cat and is a non-executive director at United Trust Bank and GenH, and a board advisor at FinTech North. With over 30 years in management, including 20 in financial services, she previously served as director of Lending at Atom bank, launching the UK’s first fully digital mortgage. She is an advocate for equality, diversity, data, and technology.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of Today’s Conveyancer.
