Along with its partner Propria, a ‘Pathfinder’ property research consultancy, the two firms have developed a solution to deliver survey information for UK lenders concerned with residential property valuation and condition. They say the solution will provide safe, secure, accurate and timely property surveys.

The MyHomesPhotos application is a fully integrated consumer facing service that takes the client’s case referencing, georeferencing, and job type; and, through a triaged desktop, instructs PRI’s MyHomePhotos API application infrastructure.

PRI combines the client information with its own property data to issue secured access tokens to an owner/occupier. They can then access the MyHomePhotos application on any smartphone, tablet or PC/Mac to securely upload any class of information requested.

The data is then autoloaded into the client case file and GDPR reviewed, geocoded and date and time assessed before being issued to the right valuation specialist team for review.

If a property needs further assessment then an “external technical surveyor” visit can be arranged in further support of the desk top valuation team.

This app allows the consumer to play an active role in their own loan application and monitor progress on the same device. But any tech solution, especially remote ones, need a quality human back up… It’s called My Home Concierge.

PRI’s Concierge and customer support services also serve buyers with condition surveys and specialist reporting and insures customers struggling with home defects and claims.

Finding this solution

Following the Coviod-19 lockdown, PRI worked with its insurer clients and lender partners to modify site survey processes to exclude internal inspections. Instead they focussed on high-quality external surveys with floorplan and other attributes taken with both the surveyors and the occupiers distanced completely from each other.

However, a managed external survey was not going to be sufficiently detailed in many circumstances with particular and specialist lending products and so further innovation was needed.

PRIs chief executive Michael Lawson explained: “One way to enhance the external survey or in the absence of a surveyor to have any property data, was to enrol the owner/occupier in the assessment.

“However, simply asking the property owner to take some photographs or video and then email these was fraught with difficulty. Our experience in claims management in challenging circumstances was invaluable as our whole team studied the problem.”

Challenges for customers gathering data on their home

PRI says desk top valuations need quality “just in time” decision support:

• The system of sending and receiving requests for photos and other documents from the public needs organising or a chaotic set of email, separate address domains, private address emails will become quickly unmanageable at scale
• Requests need to be organised, and released to support security and GDPR obligations tracked and checked
• Data needs to be controlled for data file standards and to ensure delivery through secure pathways to the valuation team
• Fraud risks associated with “time and place” must be managed
• Photo evidence can be checked against other resources for veracity
• Other resources often need to be delivered with the photo pack
• Desk surveys may need to escalate to a physical external survey if doubt persists
• Data needs to be transferred securely through safe and managed systems to protect data and the client’s reputational risk

Graeme Winser, director of strategy at Propria and chair of RICS Valuation Panel, stated: “There are a wide range of ‘checks and balances’ that produce a high-quality property risk assessment and valuation for a lender and a differing level of skill sets derived from a triaged managed desk top.

“The chartered valuer wants to see output results but he is far from the best person to secure these from the owner/occupier, but that isn’t the real problem; the real problem is managing large scale exchange of this ‘personal information’ in an ad-hoc fashion is a massive reputation risk if the process isn’t trusted and isn’t secure.

“The solution innovated by PRI isn’t just a game changer for this crisis or any other lockdown event it’s a fundamental reimagining of ‘how things might be done’ in the future.

“The fact a lender can manage property, valuation and reputational risk with a fully audited and instantly self-serviceable manner changes everything.”

This short video illustrates the process:

Property Risk Inspection has been innovating collection of property data attributes through survey for UK insurers managing property claims and has for the last six years been supporting innovation in property risk. (See report Mortgage Finance Gazette 25-05-2018)