Shared data to sit at the heart of home buying and selling reforms

In a widely publicised announcement on Sunday 9th February, the Labour government announced it would be ‘modernising’ the home buying and selling process to make it fit for the 21st Century and significantly reduce transaction delays; including digitising property information and single, shareable ID verification throughout the transaction. 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) has launched a 12-week project to identify the ‘design and implementation of agreed rules on data for the sector, so that it can easily be shared between conveyancers, lenders and other parties involved in a transaction.’ The government department point to the current inaccessibility of information in non-machine readable formats as barriers to digitising the current system; examples include building control and highways information. And where it is available electronically, there need to be ‘established protocols’ for accessing, sharing and verifying the data.

In a nod toward efforts to introduce more information at the start of the transaction the government say

“by making information available at people’s fingertips, it will be far less likely for surprises to be encountered later on in the process. This will make it easier for people to get onto the housing ladder… Clear information early on will mean there are no surprises late on in the transaction which might cause it to fall through, so instead the transaction is completed smoothly without unnecessary time, energy or money spent.”

Alongside its current work to digitise records HM Land Registry will also conduct 10-month pilots with a number of councils to identify the best approach to opening up more of their data and make more of it available in a digital format.

The government have focused on reducing the cost of failed transactions, which it estimates costs individuals £400m a year; on top of the c 4m working days lost by property professionals – equivalent to c. £1bn.

Details on the project remain light. The announcement references the work of the Digital Property Market Steering Group which was launched in 2023 and is now chaired by MHCLG. Member of the DPMSG include regulators the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), CILEx Regulation, and Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) alongside membership groups including the Conveyancing Association (CA), the Law Society and The Society of Licensed Conveyancers; and HMLR, UK Finance and the Building Societies Association amongst others.

It is expected the work done by the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) on its Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF) will also be consulted.

Commenting on the reforms Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook said:

“We are streamlining the cumbersome home buying process so that it is fit for the twenty-first century, helping homebuyers save money, gain time and reduce stress while also cutting the number of house sales that fall through. Our modernisation of the system sits alongside further reforms to improve the lives of leasehold homeowners across the country, allowing them to more easily and cheaply take control of the buildings they live in and clamp down on unreasonable or extortionate charges.

“These reforms build on the government’s Plan for Change to deliver higher living standards and 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament, and our ongoing efforts to protect leaseholders suffering from unfair and unreasonable practices as we work to end the feudal leasehold system for good.”

Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery for The Conveyancing Association, added:

“Clearly, this announcement has the potential to be incredibly positive for those going through the home buying and selling process, helping speed it up and working to ensure we bring down the third of transactions which fall through before completion, costing money, causing stress and wasting effort and resources. We have been heavily involved in pushing forward the digital property data agenda and what greater provision can achieve. We believe this is not just about its use for home buying and selling, but it will provide far greater benefits across the lifecycle of property, enabling parties to have the right view of the property data whenever they transact or need to act, whether that is a remortgage, altering or finding a planning application, for letting purposes, or retrofitting to meet net zero targets.

“There are also some wider benefits that are often discounted but which should be generated by this, including: for the economy in terms of not having people in housing ‘stasis’ for long periods of any year meaning they can get on with their lives, be economically active and contribute to UK GDP; the environment, as it will mean the Government can see the quality of the housing stock digitally allowing it to target where its funding/grants/loans should be delivered in order to achieve retrofitting; the NHS, in terms of helping reduce the health issues often caused by people living in poor housing conditions; plus our housing sector, and the conveyancing industry in particular, as it will reduce waste and duplication of tasks which often adds significant amounts of time to the whole buying/selling process.

“What we want is a much more joined-up, digitally-enhanced process that reduces the stress of buying and moving for people by cutting down on the uncertainty, the frustrations, the wasted money, and the simple time spent waiting for all aspects to progress. We at the CA are very supportive of this announcement and will be working with the Government and all other stakeholders to make it a reality as soon as possible.”

Alongside the announcement regarding modernising the home moving process was confirmation of the introduction of secondary legislation to further progress the work the government is doing on leasehold reform. Right to Manage measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 are being laid before Parliament today (Monday 19th February) which will come into effect on 2rd March 2925 giving leaseholders a greater say in how their service charges are spent and removing the requirement for leaseholders to cover the legal fees of their freeholder when making a Right to Manage claim.

Work to reform Leasehold remains ongoing with this the latest initiative following Pennycook’s confirmation leaseholders will be able to extend their lease or buy their freehold without having wait two years as was the case previously.