The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) is calling on conveyancers to get involved with shaping the transition to a smart property data market.
The call comes as work gets underway on the Smart Property Data Trust Framework sandbox, a government-backed project designed to test the technical, governance and security foundations needed for a “modern, data-centric property market”.
The sandbox is a safe, controlled environment used to test how trusted property data can be securely accessed, shared and reused between accredited participants, including conveyancers. The project is backed by a £742,700 award from the Government’s Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, and is being delivered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), OPDA, Raidiam and Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG).
Conveyancers are also being recruited to testing and working groups and to assess how their businesses handle property data.
Firms are being asked to consider where manual, document-based processes should be replaced by structured data, how their systems will adopt the emerging standards, and what governance and verification requirements they will need to meet.
The sandbox project marks a significant step away from today’s “document-heavy, fragmented processes towards structured data, shared standards and interoperability,” OPDA said. It will test real-world use cases, including data provenance, consent management, secure APIs, role definitions and liability models. Findings will be shared publicly, helping the sector understand how trust frameworks can reduce duplication, improve transaction certainty and unlock automation across the property and mortgage lifecycle.
Maria Harris, OPDA chair, said:
“We’ve been talking about the digitisation of the property market for a long time, but with this project, the vision starts to become a reality. The sandbox approach means the transition from digital property data to smart property data is not just theory but a live proof of concept.
“Digitising property transactions isn’t just about moving forms online. Without common standards, clear governance and trusted data sharing, we simply replicate existing inefficiencies in digital form. Trust frameworks provide the foundation that allows data to flow safely and reliably across the ecosystem, with confidence for both consumers and professionals.”
Harris added that early engagement will help firms to prepare for a more ‘efficient, transparent and trusted’ property market, saying “Now is the time to get involved”.
To enquire about getting involved email contact@openpropdata.org.uk
2 responses
Inviting conveyancers into a “sandbox” to test its Smart Property Data Trust Framework may sound progressive. But beneath the glossy language lies a set of risks property lawyers cannot afford to ignore.
Sandboxes are not neutral. They are not miniature versions of the real world. And they are certainly not a substitute for the professional oversight, legal integrity, and real-world accountability that the homebuying public depends on.
Sandboxes create the illusion of safety. By design, they narrow the field of vision, strip out complexity, and present a curated environment where risks appear smaller, tidier, and more manageable than they truly are. That is not regulation. That is risk washing.
The UK property market is chain-heavy, fragmented, and still far from fully digitised.
A sandbox cannot replicate:
• the volume of transactions
• the diversity of data sources
• the messy, real-world interactions between lenders, agents, conveyancers, local authorities, and consumers
Testing a national data sharing framework in a controlled micro-environment tells us almost nothing about how it will behave under real pressure.
Conveyancers entering a sandbox are effectively stepping into a grey zone where:
• normal rules may be suspended
• liabilities may be unclear
• post sandbox obligations are undefined
This is not a responsible environment for professionals who carry legal duties and personal accountability.
Sandboxes often allow participants to bypass certain regulations “for the sake of innovation.”
But property transactions are not a playground.
If something goes wrong, it is real people—buyers, sellers, families—who bear the consequences.
OPDA’s framework assumes a level of data completeness and standardisation that simply does not exist. A sandbox cannot fix this. It can only hide it.
The article’s optimism about “safe testing environments” misses the point entirely. Cyber criminals do not operate in sandboxes.
A framework that survives a controlled pilot may still collapse under sustained, malicious attack in the real world.
________________________________________
OPDA are clearly looking after themselves and the business interests of those who have paid nice “membership” fees to be part of their gang. This is all rhetoric/propaganda when in reality they are unable to answer ‘safety’ questions as above. This is far from looking out for Joe Bloggs on the street who will no doubt be penalised because they innocently thought ‘what could go wrong’ without taking legal advice before signing on the dotted line.
How are the OPDA going to protect those who are today facing consequences of firms shutting up shop with not a word to anyone?
Trust has been lost with all the continual gas lighting from OPDA and pals. They have done nothing to earn our trust or prove they are ‘trustworthy’.
None of the claims in the article are going to help those stuck with properties that are currently deemed unsafe and unmortgageable.
The definition of risk “what’s left over when you’ve thought of everything”.
To quote Charlie Lamdin – “every time government interferes something goes wrong”