HM Land Registry (HMLR) will include unique property reference numbers (UPRNs) and INSPIRE IDs with its monthly price paid dataset from Friday, to make it easier to match and analyse property data.
The inclusion of the data has been implemented in response to customer demand and will help to generate greater value from land and property data, HMLR said. The use of UPRNs and INSPIRE IDs will reduce confusion for home buyers and sellers, the organisation added, removing issues caused by address changes, similar property names or inconsistent address formats to support smoother property transactions.
INSPIRE – Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe – is a European Union initiative and legal framework established in May 2007. An INSPIRE ID is an automatically generated unique number given to specific shapes on a map outlining land or property, linking the spatial data to official land registry records.
“We have a strategic plan to unlock the value of our data to create new opportunities for innovation and growth”, Lynne Nicholson, deputy director for data at HMLR explained.
“To support this, and in response to customer demand, we are providing UPRNs and INSPIRE IDs through a series of lookup tables, beginning with our Price Paid dataset. Later this financial year, we will be adding similar lookup tables to our UK Companies data and Overseas Companies data, as part of our move to support a more efficient, transparent, and digitally connected property market.”
Official national address and street databases for England and Wales, including the allocation of UPRNs to local authorities and Ordnance Survey, are managed by GeoPlace. Managing director Nick Chapallaz said:“HM Land Registry has already established a valuable link between title numbers and UPRNs, helping connect property ownership information with authoritative location data.
“Extending that approach to Price Paid Data is a natural next step. As a persistent, unique identifier maintained through local authority address custodians and GeoPlace, the UPRN provides certainty of reference across the property sector, ensuring that different organisations are working with the same property, regardless of how its address appears in their systems.
“That shared reference point enables property data from different sources to be linked, analysed and mapped, opening up new opportunities for insight across the property market.”
The lookup table for the current monthly Price Paid Data dataset will be available from 28th August through HM Land Registry’s existing public data channels.
Price Paid Data can be downloaded in text, CSV format and in a machine readable format as linked data and is released under Open Government Licence (OGL). Under the OGL, HM Land Registry permits the use of Price Paid Data for commercial or non-commercial purposes. However, the OGL does not cover the use of third party rights, which HM Land Registry is not authorised to license.
