Before diving into the wild world of proptech, I spent many years in manufacturing engineering. In manufacturing, data is omnipresent – from part measurement data and line rates to the speed and temperature of individual servo motors. The provenance of this data was assured and never needed a second thought. But stepping into the property sector, this all changed and provenance took centre stage.
In simple terms, provenance refers to the origin or source of something. Back in my manufacturing days, data provenance was usually a given, thanks to the precision of machines, robots, and strict calibration requirements that left no room for deception. While manufacturing data presented its challenges, I took for granted the reassurance provided by plugging a USB into a computer to retrieve verified, trustworthy data.
At Kotini, I found myself drowning in data once again but this time without the comforting presence of robots or machines. Instead, I had to contend with the complexities introduced by people and a multitude of APIs delivering conflicting or outdated property data. Property data mining in the UK is a complex landscape—from local authorities and various government departments to private organisations. Information silos, intricate processes, and varied data standards pose significant barriers to seamless and secure data sharing. This has hindered the speed and efficiency of residential property transactions.
You might be thinking: “What’s the connection between manufacturing and property?” Well, at Kotini, we’re on a mission to bring that same assurance I felt handling manufacturing data to all our customers, partners, and the entire industry.
Working with the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) and other contributors across the industry, we’re building the Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF), a game-changer in the pursuit of trustworthy property data. Picture it: a property provenance machine, powered by open, verified, and trusted property data.
The framework, collaboratively crafted by property and tech experts, creates a common language for property data and provides a set of governance principles to reinforce trust in that data. OPDA recently released the latest version of the framework to make free and shareable data tools available across the property industry.
For the first time, data collected when a property is first put on the market by an estate agent can be represented in a way that the conveyancer, broker, lender and other systems can understand. Most importantly, they will be able to trust it later in a transaction.
The framework enables trust by ensuring that every piece of property data collected is provenanced with a claim that provides irrefutable proof of where or who that data came from. For example, a claim could be the verified owner of a property stating they installed a boiler in October 2022. A claim could also be the Gas Safe Register, stating a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate was provided for a gas boiler in October 2022.
This is a simple example. But the PDTF already has comprehensive coverage of the data needed in a property transaction, integrating the established Law Society protocol forms, BASPI, Title Information, Energy Performance Certificate, search data and more.
PDTF is a game-changer in improving the efficiency of property transactions, eliminating single-use data and enabling property professionals to focus on their core service (e.g. conveyancing) rather than chasing missing forms, data or information.
The new version is expected to help accelerate the digitisation of the property market, making transactions easier and more efficient for homebuyers and property industry professionals.
At Kotini, we’ve already used the PDTF across over 500 transactions to save estate agents and their clients thousands of hours of admin. Imagine the time savings if the PDTF were to be adopted across the industry.
The Property Data Trust Framework is freely available to the entire property industry and their software providers, from estate agents, through to lawyers, lenders and brokers, without any restrictive, proprietary licences. You can find out more about the framework and OPDA here: Open Property Data (openpropdata.org.uk)