The Intermediary – November 2025 - Flipbook - Page 12
T E C H N O L O GY
In focus
among lenders. He says: “What needs to
happen is that Government, lenders, the
FCA and broker networks have to get into a
room to see what standards they will accept
on things like anti-money laundering
[AML] checks and identity verification.
“The issues are trust and accountability.
Can the various parties trust that the data
they are receiving is correct? And if it is not,
who is accountable?”
The Government’s second consultation,
‘Material information in property listings’,
is a natural conclusion to the territory
staked out by the first document.
It outlines a list of information about a
residential property for sale, which it wants
to see provided upfront by estate agents to
potential buyers, in a bid to cut transaction
times and collapsed sales.
The DLUHC says this information should
cover tenure, Council Tax band, Energy
Performance Certificate (EPC) rating,
property type, legal and transactional
“We’ve pre-denied your mortgage – our data
says you might miss a payment in 2029”
information such as title information, seller ID
verification and leasehold terms.
The list also includes building safety
data, standard searches, property condition
assessments tailored to property age and type,
sharing at this stage, and to build momentum,
service charges, planning consents, flood risk
Government will have to support this with
data, chain status, and clear floor plans.
legislation.”
Stones continues: “This is why the industry
will look to see how the administration moves
Information Packs, introduced by the last Labour
forward with its consultations, which ask the
administration in England and Wales in 2007.
right questions, at the end of the year.”
These were short-lived, scrapped by the coalition
Quality data
Lenders are clear that they must be able to
trust any data being shared throughout the
housebuying chain.
Stevens says: “We will have to know the
in 2010, which called them “expensive and
unnecessary.”
However, Steve Lees, associate technical
director at Countrywide, argues that these new
packs may be better received this time around,
adding: “The industry has access to much more
provenance. We will have to know its source and
digital information than there was at the time of
ensure that the data is accurate enough to make
the Home Information Packs.
lending decisions based on it.”
Theo Brewer, director of analytics at
“The new material information packs are
intended to be predominantly digital, whereas
Hometrack, agrees: “Data is commercial and
the Home Information Packs were a collection of
valuable. Every actor in the property market
less detailed paper documents. Lenders never got
wants to get their hands on key information and
behind the previous packs.”
take a view on it themselves.
“A key move here could be trusted bodies
such as Ordnance Survey and the Land Registry
further opening up the data they hold, across
The DLUHC says pulling together this set of
material information is best handled by estate
agents before homes are listed for sale.
However, it admits this will be “challenging”
areas like land and title deeds, because at the
for estate agents, as key parts of this work will
moment access is limited.”
require a surveyor.
But Cowdell points out that there is “a
nervousness” about the use of shared open data
10
The push to provide greater material
information has echoes of the Home
The Intermediary | November 2025
Indeed, in October, Propertymark found
that currently fewer than 50% of agencies
p
