The Intermediary – July 2026 - Flipbook - Page 78
Q&A
e4 Strategic UK
The Intermediary speaks with Simon Slater, CEO at
e4 Strategic UK, about modernising the UK house
buying process
Why did you set up e4 Strategic in
the UK?
Buying a home should be one of life’s most exciting
milestones, yet for many people in the UK it
remains one of the most stressful.
We are passionate about playing a meaningful
role in improving the home-buying process for
everyone involved, particularly buyers and sellers.
There is real momentum building across the
industry, with all the main stakeholders, industry
bodies and Government all recognising that the
current process can be improved. We believe
we can contribute positively to that journey. We
are also particularly heartened by the recent
Government announcements to modernise the
homebuying and selling process in the UK.
My own background started in law. I began
my career as an M&A corporate lawyer,
practising in both South Africa and the UK,
before moving into technology more than
20 years ago.
Since then, I have worked in the
PropTech space, leading businesses
connect organisations and simplify
complex processes.
In South Africa, over a decade and a half,
we managed to build one of the country’s
leading PropTech businesses, connecting
lenders, law firms, government entities and
other key stakeholders.
One lesson that experience taught me is that
technology only creates meaningful change
when it is truly designed around the people
who use it. The best solutions are built by
innovative people listening carefully
to end users.
When we established e4
in the UK in 2021, one
thing stood out.
The front
end of
the
mortgage journey has been significantly
modernised, with applications to offer taking less
than 10 days. Yet after the mortgage offer, the
experience quickly becomes fragmented, with
disconnected systems and limited visibility.
Many of the causes are well understood. Most
encouragingly, Government has now announced
plans to start to tackle issues such as chains
(with upfront binding agreements), challenges
around the use of common data (with upfront
sales packs and standardised data sharing) along
with various other initiatives to address these
broader challenges.
Alongside those larger reforms, there are also
many practical improvements (which
we call the ‘controllables’), such
as better communication,
more connected
workflows, and
greater transparency,
which can make
a meaningful
difference for
conveyancers,
lenders, brokers
and ultimately
consumers.
We launched
VERSA to support
that ambition and
to create a much
more connected
and collaborative
post-offer journey.
The next 12 months
will be an important
period for both e4 and
the wider industry. We
SIMON SLATER
