The Legal Software Suppliers Association (LSSA) and the government’s strategy adviser at the Ministry of Housing have met to discuss homebuying reforms.

The meeting aimed to give the government input on proposed reforms to the homebuying and home selling process.

LSSA chief executive Kevin Horlock said the talks aimed to tackle long-standing problems with the “broken” property market. At the meeting, members were optimistic that reforms might succeed this time, the LSSA said.

The trade body said that multiple stakeholders have now engaged across property transactions system, and not just in one sector.

Horlock said: “There’s multi-stakeholder engagement through the Open Property Data Association, and the LSSA has a memorandum of understanding with them and the government’s smart data scheme, which is creating momentum.

“This is no longer just a technology problem, because trust frameworks and data standards are evolving. Today there’s more energy and passion to fix the broken property market than there has been in the past 25 years.”

Tim Kidd, chief executive of the Institute of Legal Finance and Management, made clear that it will be his members in law firms who will need to implement the changes, explaining that their input to the proposals will be important.

The LSSA said the reforms constitute “catch up” and not innovation, noting that the process is ten years behind the DVLA and Passport Office on digital data exchange.

LSSA members told the trade body that they support the move towards earlier binding contracts and upfront information.

The LSSA said its members are clear that what matters is trust in the provenance of data and not a centralisation of that data.