‘Building Better Decision Making – Location data in the property sector’ is not the most catchy of titles but the 1st August publication of a report by the Geospatial Commission [GC] contains interesting information for residential estate agency and suggests that better use of data will improve the conveyancing process. We in the industry are going to be hearing a lot more on this subject in the future.
In her introduction, GC Commissioner, Alexandra Notray says,
“The property ecosystem provides the infrastructure of where we live, work and play. It is a cornerstone of the UK economy, employing 1.2 million people and contributing over £100 billion each year.
“However, many of our interactions with the industry from planning to buying, renting and maintenance, remain stubbornly analogue. We can all see the transformative potential and multitude of opportunities for the property industry to embrace emerging technologies and digital tools empowered by location data; yet a truly systematic approach to innovation and technology across our diverse and siloed asset classes and property types has yet to emerge. Often this is blamed on the barriers, perceived or real, of how to securely hold, analyse, share and manage data that put off property companies from adopting change.
“This report can be a catalyst for enabling that change. The UK is already home to a fast growing and innovative PropTech sector, transforming how developers find land and evaluate development potential, how local authorities and residents approach planning, how homes are bought, sold or rented, and how customers interact with their landlords and wider communities.”
For the buying, selling and renting of residential properties the report says that location data could lead faster, more certain transactions.
“The average length of time for a conveyancing process is 150 days. In England and Wales, the Conveyancing Association states that there are 163 different data sets required for review as part of residential transactions, most related to the property and any restrictions and risks.
“In last year’s Levelling Up White Paper the government committed to improve the home buying and selling process, working with industry to ensure the critical information buyers need to know is available digitally wherever possible from trusted and authenticated sources.
“The conveyancing process could be significantly improved by FAIR [findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable] location data resulting in greater transparency, quicker transaction and reduction in expensive late in process failures, as well as reducing local authority burdens.
“Greater availability of high quality interoperable data earlier on would enable buying process decisions to be taken at an earlier point, for both professionals (e.g. conveyancers and lenders) and consumers (e.g. buyers and sellers). This could lead to fewer failed transactions at a late stage, saving money, time and stress.”
The report identifies opportunity areas within residential conveyancing and notes that local authority searches can currently take up to 40 working days. HM Land Registry is working in partnership with local authorities in England and Wales to standardise and migrate the Local Land Charges Register information to one national register.
HM Land Registry has set out a programme of transformation to provide secure and efficient land registration, enable property to be bought and sold digitally, provide near real-time property information, provide accessible digital register data and lead research and accelerate change with property market partners. This work sits alongside that of DLUHC who committed in last year’s Levelling Up White Paper to ensure home buyers have the critical information they need for a purchase, available digitally wherever possible.
Often the same question of the data is asked multiple times by buyers, lenders and sellers, with multiple prospective buyers independently following the same process. Additionally in other areas, multiple organisations or companies are collecting the same information e.g. on building age due to it being hard to find in one location.
The report notes that the Home Buying and Selling Group, which is made up of representatives from the property industry, have developed the ‘Buying and Selling Property Information’ (BASPI) dataset designed to be the ‘one source of truth’ when it comes to upfront information about a property.
The latest version of the BASPI includes the requirement to include a UPRN alongside the address of the property, enabling conveyancers, lenders and buyers to be confident that they are dealing with the same piece of land or property.To support the BASPI, a technology sub group is developing a Property Data Trust Framework, building upon the methodology established by the Digital Identity Trust Framework.
This Property Data Trust Framework will be a framework, data and technology standard to enable people and organisations to reuse data relating to a property, and access and share authenticated property information or “property attributes” with other people and organisations more easily.
By adopting these standards, all services and organisations using the trust framework can describe property information they’ve created in a consistent way. This will make it easier for organisations and users to complete property transactions or share information with other trust framework participants.
When we take instructions to sell a property we help the owner prepare the paperwork before we launch
Our pack can include:
1. Property Brochure (including photos, property description, square footage, £ per sq foot, whole plot size, local authority, council tax band and cost, tenure, estate fees, if lease the length, ground rent, maintenance fees and what’s included)
2. Floor plan
3. Location map
4. Walk around video
5. Title Deeds – Office copy entries – Register – Title deeds are the legal documents that record the ownership of a property and any accompanying land with plans.
6. Title Plans – Office Copy Entries
7. Our general FAQ sheet about the property including things like rental value, rental yield, year built, distance to shops and park, meters, services, boiler, loft etc
8. EPC – The energy performance certificate
9. A report on -[Local sold prices, Title plan, Local mobile & broadband speeds, Planning history, Plot size & floor area, Pounds per square foot, Flood risk, Conservation areas, Local school reports, Leasehold info, Council tax, Energy Performance Certificate, Transport links and Transaction history.]
10.Any Private estate fees and information ie. most recent invoices and share certificates.
11.The legal TA6 – Sellers Property Information form – Current Law Society edition – 16 pages of legally binding information on the property.
12.The legal TA7 Leasehold Information form – Current Law Society edition – 10 sections of legally binding information on the lease with all costs, if applicable. We also suggest copies of the following, if applicable, (a) recent correspondence and invoices from the managing agents. (b) Share certificate in the management company. (c) Any consents from the Freeholder to matters such as the installation of double glazing which may well be required under the terms of the Lease.
13.The legal TA10 – Fixtures and contents form – Current Law Society edition – A full list of what is included in the sale.
14.We have a SUPPLEMENTAL ENQUIRIES QUESTIONNAIRE – this form answers most of the questions that come up during enquiries including parts on Conservatories and drainage.
15.We also look to include lots of other information that will crop up such as:
FENSA window certificates for windows installed after 1 April 2002;
Wall or loft Insulation paperwork;
Gas safe certificates;
Electrical work certificates;
Any building insurance claims and information;
Shared driveway or private road contributions;
Warranties, guarantees or receipts for any fixtures fittings or works done on the property, including kitchens and bathrooms;
Details on any extra land included;
Details on works done if a Listed building;
Boiler or heating documents or servicing records;
Solar panel / battery documents with proof of ownership and feed-in tariffs;
Info on extensions and conservatories with planning and building regulation info or council documents to say not needed, and as much info as possible;
Conservatory information – we have a form in our SUPPLEMENTAL ENQUIRIES QUESTIONNAIRE
Non-mains drainage and Septic tank documents including servicing;
NHBC or new build paperwork if under 10 years old;
Burglar alarm documents and service history
If Leasehold: (a) Any recent correspondence and invoices from the managing agents. (b) Share certificate in the management company. (c) Any consents from the Freeholder to matters such as the installation of double glazing which may well be required under the terms of the Lease.
Swimming pool and heating apparatus service history
We are also looking at other enquiries that are raised by a buyer’s solicitor and add these documents to our lists.
Cooper Adams will help our sellers with each item on the list and any form filling. Providing our experienced advice at all times.
This process speeds up transaction times by multiple weeks.
Some of this information is publicly available on our website on each property, some of it we can email a potential buyer as it could be more private information. Security is paramount for us.
This also saves the seller’s solicitor time as we have organised all the data for them.
There is no charge for Cooper Adams to organise this pack and securely store it electronically.
The pack is also available by invitation to potential buyers before they offer. An educated buyer is more secure knowing all the ins and outs of a property before any offer is accepted.
The UK government recommend the use of these packs, and especially as we all know that a legally-prepared property will result in a quicker transaction, with fewer fall-throughs, and that has to be a good thing for everyone.
On the Government Guide [How to Sell Guide – A guide for people looking to sell a home in England and Wales] Page 4 it says “Before you market your home – getting ‘sale ready’ – Before you begin to think about putting your property on the market, you should spend some time getting your paperwork together and making your home ‘sale ready’” it then goes on to say “If you gather together the relevant documents at this stage, you can avoid future delays and provide your estate agent with key information to share with prospective buyers from the outset.” – this is exactly what Cooper Adams do, follow to the tee the Government advice – we think it’s strange other agents do not adopt this common-sense principle. We feel, soon, this ‘advice’ will probably become law.
We still recommend a seller to instruct their solicitor early to open up the file. The solicitor won’t need to obtain Title TA6, TA7, or TA10 as we can email them the link which will also contain other documents relating to the property. This pack is available to the seller, their solicitor, the buyer and their solicitor.
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Very comprehensive Shaun. The $64,000,00 question is, what difference (or differences) does working in that way make to the parties involved in the transaction?
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