This is an entirely unacceptable failure rate that wastes time and money, increases stress on professionals in the market and on buyers and sellers too.

Change may finally be on the horizon, however, with a pioneering project which aims to reduce the time, cost and risk involved by as much as two-thirds. It will help to improve confidence that a transaction will complete, and when that will happen.

In partnership with the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) and Raidiam, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has been awarded almost £750,000 in government funding to develop what is believed to be the first framework for digitising property data, enabling the safe and secure sharing of material information upfront among all parties in a transaction.

The creation of the Property Data Trust Framework, which will bring together data from bodies such as HM Land Registry, local authorities and conveyancers, follows a successful bid to the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, a government initiative that awards grants to regulators trialling new, innovative and more efficient ways of working.

‘Blueprint’ for success

This is a significant and hugely exciting step forward in transforming the homebuying and selling process, which has been held back by inefficiencies for far too long.  It is also supported by the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG) and, if implemented, would provide an open standard supporting interoperability across the market.

The project will run for 12 months and include sandbox testing of the technical infrastructure needed to underpin the regulatory, security and governance standards for firms that need to access and share property data.

This ‘proof of concept’ testing, to show the feasibility of the project, will be led by Raidiam, the team behind Open Banking, which allows people to securely share their financial data with authorised third parties, and which now works with more than 1,000 banks globally.

OPDA, which developed the UK’s first open-source schema for upfront property information, will lead the work on standards, industry engagement, and manage collaboration across all stakeholders to ensure end-to-end property lifecycle representation.

Like Open Banking, it has the potential to deliver the blueprint for a seamless, efficient and truly transparent experience for consumers.

Shaking up the system

As a member of the DPMSG, we also welcome the government’s support in improving the home buying and selling process and await with interest the findings of a public consultation on the proposed reforms.

Ministers estimate the reforms, which have been described as “the biggest shake-up to the homebuying system in the country’s history”, could halve the number of failed transactions, save first time buyers hundreds of pounds, and cut the average time from instruction to completion by around four weeks.

There is broad consensus about the change that is needed in order to transform the system and this is a positive step towards delivering it in the interests of homeowners and the wider economy.

The individuals and practices we regulate are already embracing new approaches and tools to offer the kind of service we have all come to expect and, as the specialist property regulator, we will continue to work with them and partners across the sector.

Stephen Ward is director of strategy and external relations at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers