"The development of the Property Data Trust Framework is a significant milestone in the much needed move of the industry from documents to data."
Members of the Home Buying & Selling Group (HBSG) representing the software, proptech, search provider, estate agency, and conveyancing sectors have today released the first public version of their property data and technology schemas.
The Property Data Trust Framework has been developed by a collaborative working group with the objective of creating the common language, data, and technology standards needed by industry and property data custodians to make upfront information available and sharable in a digital format.
The framework includes a free to use, open-source repository of JSON schemas which cover the key elements of an upfront information pack for customers and estate agents including the ‘Buyer and Seller Property Information’ (BASPI), material information for property listings as described by National Trading Standards, and early search flag indicators, all of which can then be shared with the seller’s conveyancer and other transaction participants such as potential buyers and mortgage lenders.
The BASPI and other upfront information components, developed by the upfront information working group of the HBSG, has been developed as a ‘single source of truth’ containing all the information required about a property when it is listed for sale and to empower customer transparency, user confidence, informed decision making and to reduce the current uncertainty, risks and stress experienced by customers and industry participants.
The technology standards generated when implementing the Property Data Trust Framework schemas ensure that property data is FAIR - findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable - and is supported by trusted information on the provenance of that data. The common data dictionary and API specifications contained within the schemas also support the frictionless exchange of property data between software platforms and product or service providers.
Following two successful proof of concept validation tests, the contributing firms are now entering a beta phase with real customers on live transactions. The beta phase participants include customer facing property data collection, estate agent branches, estate agent software, property search and reports, conveyancing firms, conveyancing software, and technology firms. Future phases will be extended to mortgage intermediaries, mortgage lenders, and valuation instructions.
The group would welcome further contribution to the schemas from the proptech developer community and expressions of interest from any of the industry firms and software providers who are ready to start working with digital upfront information.
Information on how to register for further information or to access the schemas can be found on the website https://homebuyingandsellinggroup.co.uk/property-data-trust-framework/.
Maria Harris, chair of the Home Buying & Selling Technology Group, commented: “I’m delighted that we’re now able to share the framework and schemas with the rest of the industry. With huge thanks to all the participating firms who’ve collaborated, volunteered, and given so much time and hard work to get the standards to a point where we can now implement them into frontline systems and make these services available on live property transactions.
"The development of the Property Data Trust Framework is a significant milestone in the much needed move of the industry from documents to data. Through digitisation of the upfront property data, connecting our systems using a common set of API standards, and redesigning the end-to-end journey, we’ve seen a real breakthrough in improving the customer and user experience.
"Industry adoption will be one of our biggest challenges so I’d encourage anyone not already involved in our group to get in touch or speak to their software provider about what this means for them.”
