UK property transactions go digital to reduce time from sale to exchange

Want to buy a house? You can do that online, and stakeholders in the UK property market are on a mission to make the process as smooth as possible. Last week, a group of lending, conveyancing and real estate agents launched Project 28, “a Charter for faster, more certain property transactions,” which lists 8 Charter commitments covering the scope of the transactional journey. The goal is to achieve a time of 28 days target from sale agreed to exchange, to reduce fall-throughs and unlock economic growth.

Calling the UK’s property transaction process “broken,” the Charter “calls time on a fragmented system” and rallies for rapid digitization. “To revolutionise the property transaction process, the Charter recognises the benefits of digitizing key property information and facilitating more efficient data sharing.”

National Property Transaction Network aims to streamline property transactions

LMS, a major provider of conveyancing services to transfer ownership in property transactions, is stepping up to meet the challenge. A blog post from the firm says its National Property Transaction Network (NPTN) is adding 42 additional stakeholders to its “initiative to shape the future of property transactions.”

The network aims to be a trusted space for sharing data, which can make home buying more efficient. The framework is “built around secure, reusable, authenticated data,” with support from the Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF) and the Open Property Data Association (OPDA), to enable horizontal digital integration across systems, reduced compliance duplication, less friction, and faster time to exchange.

A single authentication check is a big selling point: per a release from 2024 (when the NPTN pilot launched), “since data is authenticated and shared with all stakeholders throughout the process, a customer only has to provide their data once, at the very start of the journey.”

LMS says the pilot demonstrated measurable benefits in speed, certainty and efficiency across the home buying and selling process, leading to the new wave of stakeholder adoptions. The list includes familiar names from the UK digital identity and biometrics sector: Yoti, Thirdfort and Credas are among “tech suppliers committed to unlocking interoperability,” as is Verify365.

“The stakeholders adopting NPTN aren’t just participating,” says Nick Chadbourne, CEO at LMS – “they’re proactively shaping the future of property transactions. Their early adoption has been critical in helping us prove what’s possible when smart data flows securely and seamlessly between platforms, without restrictions or silos.”

“By working together with shared goals and transparent standards, we’re building an ecosystem that benefits everyone – faster processes, better data, and ultimately a simpler experience for the customer.”

Credas launches Compliance Wallet pilot in property market

Credas is also pushing the envelope with its own products, recently launching the Credas Compliance Wallet, a digital wallet to carry out compliance checks with reusable credentials, which a release says has been “designed to eliminate repeat checks, reduce friction and combat rising fraud risks across regulated sectors.”

The tool is rolling out in the property market, but is designed for eventual use across regulated industries. It will integrate with the forthcoming UK digital driver’s license and the GOV.UK Wallet.

Each digital wallet carries a verified identity and complete compliance profile, including PEPs and sanctions screening, AML checks, digital address verification and ongoing monitoring. According to Nick Ledingham, chief commercial officer at Credas, “on average, each property transaction involves 5.4 identity checks, while over 250,000 ID fraud cases were reported in 2024 alone. The Credas Compliance Wallet addresses this head-on by creating a shareable, interoperable solution that provides a one-time fraud audit trail of verification.”

The company launches with 15 million wallets in circulation, and compatibility with Apple, Google and Government ID wallets. Per its release, 60 percent of property sector checks already involve Credas, positioning the compliance wallet to play “a transformative role.”

Article Topics

AML  |  Credas  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  KYC  |  real estate  |  Thirdfort  |  UK digital ID  |  Yoti