In favour of digitalisation; welcoming the modernisation of home moving

Professionals from across the property sector have broadly welcomed plans to modernise the home buying and selling process after the Government announced a 12 week project to design and implement rules that would enable better sharing of data throughout the property transaction. 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) has said it will work with existing stakeholders in the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG), which includes the Open Property Data Association (OPDA); an organisation which over past couple of years has been working extensively on creating standards and governance around technology, data, and interoperability standards. The resultant Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF) is an “industry-ready, standardised format for property data that ensures consistency and accuracy”.

Chair of OPDA Maria Harris welcomed the MCHLG project saying

“This is a significant step forward in the modernisation of the home buying and selling process. The government’s commitment to streamlining transactions through digital property data will help create a more efficient, transparent, and cost-effective system for all, especially consumers. At OPDA, we have long advocated for smart, secure, and trusted data to be at the heart of this transformation, and we welcome this recognition of its importance.

“We are grateful to our members and supporters, particularly those who have worked tirelessly to develop open data standards and demonstrate their value in practice. This progress would not have been possible without their dedication.”

Estate agency membership body Propertymark, who are also members of the DPMSG, alongside the Law Society, Conveyancing Association, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) and Solicitors Regulation Authority among others, commented

“We…welcome plans to help speed up the buying and selling process via the proposal of making better use of technology. The housing sector will benefit enormously from digitisation, such commitment will ultimately bring vast consumer value and help streamline systems that have long needed progression.”

said Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark.

No Silver Bullet

Simon Law, SLC Chair and Law Society Vice President Mark Evans both said digitalisation was not a ‘silver bullet’ but welcomed the initiative saying both organisations would work with government to ensure their members’ voices were heard.

“While we welcome the new Government data project, we do not believe that this initiative alone will help to speed up transactions. There is no one silver bullet to address the current timescales that have become the norm since the pandemic. However, addressing the lack of digitisation and a joined-up sector will help with transparency and certainty. The efficient movement of data between trusted professionals can only be of benefit to al.”

said Law, adding the society will continue to push for wider industry reform including the regulation of estate agency and property management companies. 

“The SLC will continue to engage positively with government and to be an active member of the Digital Property Market Steering Group. Whilst welcoming this announcement we will continue to push forward the need to regulate both Estates Agents and Property Management Companies and to reform leasehold; and resist any reforms that would add additional burdens to conveyancers.”

Mark Evans said

“The Law Society is committed to improving the home-buying experience for consumers and others involved in the conveyancing process including solicitors. It is encouraging to see that the government will invest time, money and energy into making transactions smoother for buyers and sellers and the professionals they work with.

“While not a silver bullet, because there are many other aspects of the home moving process that need improvement, digitalisation could be transformative in this work over time. We look forward to examining the government’s plans in detail, working with them on these reforms, and ensuring the voices of our members, who play a key role in the conveyancing process, are heard.”

Elsewhere the sentiment from firms, technology and service providers has been positive. Nick Hale, CEO of Movera said

“The government’s commitment to modernising the home buying and selling process is a hugely positive step for the industry. Embracing greater digitisation and data-sharing will significantly improve efficiency, cut delays, and make transactions smoother, more transparent, and more secure for everyone involved.

“With one in three property transactions falling through each year—costing buyers and sellers £400 million, and leading to four million lost working days for conveyancers and estate agents—the need for change is clear. At Movera, we have already implemented key digital innovations that have streamlined property transactions to less than half the industry average. This demonstrates the real-world benefits of a modernised system, and we welcome these reforms as a catalyst for further progress.”

“As part of our ongoing commitment to digitisation, we are proud to have joined the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) last week, reinforcing our dedication to a fully digital and connected property market.”

Joe Pepper, UK Chief Executive Office at PEXA, said

“For too long, our disjointed, fragmented and inefficient property transaction process has caused economic damage, and harmed consumer outcomes. This announcement is proof that the Government has identified the scale of the issue, and has begun to grasp the nettle. Digitisation of data will go some way to breaking down the silos and speeding up access to data required to deliver a more streamlined process. But it’s a broad spectrum, and fundamentally we need a common way of sharing that data and managing the workflow, to allow conveyancers to do their job effectively without getting caught up in red tape and being forced to move at the pace of the slowest professional in the process.”

“Driving positive change in the transaction process is fundamental to the Government delivering against its ambitious homeownership targets, and we welcome this initiative as an important first step.”

Simon Brown, CEO, Landmark Information Group added

“Landmark welcomes this step from Government to improve the home buying and selling process; it is a significant step forward for the housing market after years of slowing growth. Our data shows that the average property purchase transaction takes 120 days, owing to the complex and fragmented transaction process. We believe that the first priority should be to fix the process itself through the collaborative efforts of the wider property industry. Thereafter, the digitisation of the sector and greater sharing of data will undoubtedly help to streamline the process further.

For this transformation to be truly effective, it’s essential that government and industry work together to ensure seamless implementation and ensure a wide range of industry voices are engaged in future work on this issue. We look forward to collaborating with Government to drive this forward.”

Listen to the profession

There is scepticism. While welcoming the announcement, CEO of Bold Legal Group Rob Hailstone, writing in this publication, says the government must not be blinkered in it’s plan. The lack of digitalisation is a factor in the current delays experienced by home movers, but it is not necessarily a ‘key reason.’

the sheer number of additional tasks that a 21st century conveyancer (as opposed to a 20th century conveyancer) has to carry out is definitely a key reason. Their workload has become almost unsustainable. A few examples of those additional tasks are, AML, source of funds, climate issues, complicated SDLT requirements, and the Building Safety Act 2022. Add to that ever-growing list a shortage of experienced conveyancers and a dearth of new young conveyancers entering the profession and some of the current problems will continue to escalate over the coming years.

He implores Housing Minster Matthew Pennycook to spend time in a room listening to the broad church of property professionals in his efforts to modernise the home moving process.

In an effort to present a balanced view, Today’s Conveyancer has published comments both in favour of, and against the government’s plans. Collective the Property Lawyers Alliance (PLA) has warned plans to introduce greater digitalisation at a point in time when cyber attacks are rife could have the potential to incapacitate the process.

“In the light of recent cyber-attacks in the UK by cyber-criminals why would property lawyers, let alone the public, support the creation of a digital infrastructure in the form proposed by the government allegedly to ‘speed up’ conveyancing?”

Stephen Larcombe, Chair of the PLA added many of the issues surrounding delays lie in ‘crippling red tape’ and ‘a dysfunctional Legal Services Act’ amongst others.