Government funding boosts property market transformation

In an innovative move to transform the homebuying and selling process, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has been awarded close to £750,000 in government funding. This project, in partnership with the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) and Raidiam, seeks to establish a pioneering framework for digitising property data. The initiative aims to enable secure sharing of information upfront among all parties involved in property transactions, reducing the time, cost, and risk by up to two-thirds.

The Property Data Trust Framework is set to integrate data from various sources, including HM Land Registry and local authorities, to create a more efficient property market. The funding was obtained through a successful bid for £742,700 from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, which supports regulators striving for more efficient operational methods. Under the guidance of the Digital Property Market Steering Group, this framework is hoped to foster interoperability across the property sector, delivering significant improvements in the homebuying experience.

Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive of the CLC, expresses her optimism about the project stating “This is a significant and hugely exciting step forward in transforming the homebuying 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.”

The project will last for the next 12 months and will include sandbox testing to build the necessary technical infrastructure to support regulatory, security, and governance standards. Raidiam will lead the proof of concept testing, drawing on their expertise in Open Banking, which has successfully allowed secure data sharing among financial institutions around the world.

Maria Harris, Chair of OPDA, emphasises the urgency of the project by stating “The homebuying process in the UK is one of the slowest and most painful in the world… Improving data standards and data sharing in the housing market will not only speed up transactions, building trust and confidence but it will also be a catalyst for economic growth.”

Through these collaborative efforts with the CLC and Raidiam, the OPDA aims to establish secure trust and open data standards that will significantly enhance the homebuying experience for all stakeholders. Barry O’Donohoe, CEO of Raidiam, highlights the project's potential impact, stating “Together with the OPDA and CLC, we’re proving how secure, consented data sharing – enabled by the Property Data Trust Framework – can make the process faster, safer, and more transparent.”

As the project progresses, the CLC plans to conclude with a detailed report that includes recommendations for smart data implementation, benefiting not just the property sector but extending across the UK economy at large.