RLBA News & Events

Latest News

  • June 2026 - HMLR and RLBA Begin Logbook Integration Trial

    The RLBA is working with HM Land Registry (HMLR) to trial the concept of direct homeowner access to their own Land Registry data, using Digital Property Logbooks as a delivery mechanism.  Currently, if homeowners want to check the information held on their property by Land Registry they would generally have to buy copies via the HMLR website or wait till a Conveyancer or Estate Agent does it for them.  In this proof of concept, homeowners will be able to see HMLR Register Extract Service data directly in their Digital Property Logbooks. 


    Co-ordinated by the RLBA, the participating Logbook companies will be encouraged to explore innovative ways to present and explain Register data that are meaningful for homeowners.   The proof of concept outputs will include consumer research around the presentational challenges of demystifying the data, as well as longer research into the potential impact of having informed and prepared homeowners in the sales process.  The research will also test any new product and service ideas delivered.


    Sally Holdway, Buying & Selling Lead for the RLBA  said “We believe we can reduce the number of transactions that fall-through because of incorrect or out of date information held by HMLR, for example because details have changed since the last time the property transacted. Giving sellers early sight of their data and helping them to correct mistakes will significantly reduce problems further down the line during a sale.”


    For HMLR, the trial is the most recent manifestation of HM Land Registry’s Strategy 2025+.  Terry Robertson, Deputy Director of Strategy at HMLR said: “Buying or selling a home is one of the most important transactions people make, and having clear, reliable information at the right time really matters. HM Land Registry's Strategy 2025+ puts the customer at the heart of everything we do, and supporting this proof of concept allows us to learn how homeowners could securely access their Land Registry data earlier and use it with confidence - so they can spot issues sooner and be better prepared when they come to sell.”  


    Participating consumers will be chosen among those who are planning to sell in the near future as well as those who have recently purchased.  The test group will include people with an existing Logbook and others who will set them up as part of the proof of concept.  Homeowners won’t be able to use the data to transact, but will be able to use it to create Digital Sales Pack in their Logbook.  Official Copies to support a transaction will still need to be purchased via their Sales Pack or in the normal way later in the process.


    Nigel Walley, RLBA Chair said “The key thing to stress is that it is not the Logbook companies being given the data. Our Logbooks are merely the tools that homeowners will be using to unlock their own data in a secure format. But this is part of our broader mission to unlock ALL publicly held property data for homeowners.”


    For the RLBA this proof of concept builds on the ‘self-sovereign’ policy for property data, which seeks to give the homeowner access and control of ALL of their property data, whoever holds it.  It also builds on the policy of treating a verified Logbook as an ID, with the National Logbook Register verifying the participating Logbook is owned by a verified owner.  


    The proof of concept will ALSO explore how homeowners can kick off the process of making necessary changes through their Logbook accounts early enough to save transactions from failing. They will also be encouraged to use their Logbooks to sign up for Property Alerts and other HMLR services.


    End.


  • May 2026 - RLBA Present to the CLC

    On Weds 28th May, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers - regulating property and probate lawyers (CLC) hosted three RLBA Members for a webinar discussing two of the key planks of the upcoming MHCLG Buying & Selling Reforms: Digital Property Logbooks and Digital Packs (like Marketing and Sales Packs).


    Presented by Nigel Walley, Sally Holdway and Simon Lumb of the RLBA. Both the video of the webinar and the RLBA slides used are now up on the CLC website!  You can watch the video from the panel on the right.

  • May 2026 - RLBA Replies to Smart Data Reports

    The Smart Data revolution is bringing new focus on the property industry and many people are approaching the property sector from experiences in other verticals.  This is bringing a welcome impetus to the digitising of property data and putting our homes at the heart of the ‘Smart Data’ revolution.  But recent reports on Smart Data in property have exposed a lack of sector knowledge amongst the newly arrived smart data players.  This article explains some background to the many moving parts and challenges in just one property sector, Residential. Most importantly it presents the debate from the perspective of an historically disenfranchised player: the homeowner.




    The Complex Home -  The requirements of NetZero and the connected world mean that we are creating ever more complex homes.  The variety and amount of data being created 'by, for and about' our homes has expanded exponentially.  Homes that previously would have had nothing more complicated than a boiler and a fuse board may now have ten different apps, connected to online accounts, all capturing and manipulating a homeowner’s data.  At the same time, records and certifications that would have previously languished in a Government filing cabinet are now findable on the web, from any point on the globe, as public organisations rush to digitise by publishing everything. We have to recognise that we have created a data and security monster for homeowners that needs a rapid injection of intelligence and control. 


    Principle: The property data landscape is significantly broader and deeper than just transaction data, and its out of control. The Smart Data revolution must give homeowners the tools and the authority to control the chaos we have created and empower them to be self-sovereign around their property data.




    Data Abuse -  The Property Industry has a terrible record for abusing homeowner data.  This abuse is widespread and on-going, fuelled by a mistaken belief that ‘property data can’t be private’? The abusers include well known corporate ‘bad-actors’ who are amassing data lakes from whatever they can grab. But it also includes many public sector organisations who are publishing private property data because it’s easier than protecting it.  There is also a growing sentiment that opening up private data about our homes fulfils some kind of ill-defined ‘public good’ (this sentiment is very strong in the energy sector, but is spreading into property).  The RLBA is the only organisation that is banging the table demanding a new approach - see ‘Do We Need GDPR for Property’.   The Smart Data revolution has to address this blight if we are to succeed and it has to put the homeowner, not industry, in the driving seat.  However, the dividing lines between public and private data in property and energy are not clear.


    Principle: We need to clarify the privacy status of all property data currently being ‘digitised’ and, where confusion exists, we have to default to an assumption of privacy, not public good.




    Consumer Confusion - homeowners don’t differentiate between ‘property data’ and ‘energy data’.  RLBA consumer research clearly shows that they view all data types as just ‘information about my home’.  Divisions between industry sectors and conflicting approaches to data are anti-consumer.   This is further confused by new forms of data that sit between the two -particularly around Retrofit for NetZero (eg EPC, solar panel and heat pump data).  Consumers don’t care about the distinction and, as we build Smart Data systems, we have to recognise this and build consumer facing systems that bridge across industry sectors.  This means that Logbooks, more than any other system, will need to co-ordinate across multiple trust frameworks as they roll-out, but with a single consumer interface for those functionalities. 


    Principle:  Homeowners need simplicity. We need Government to ensure we don’t end up creating multiple, overlapping concepts when a single standard or approach can succeed. 




    Consent - the Utility industry has woken up to the abuse of Smart Meter data, and OFGEM are building a Consumer Consent Solution (CCS) to enable utilities to seek clear homeowner permissions to share.  The RLBA believes that this approach needs to be at the heart of the Property Smart Data revolution and, as stated, that homeowners need to be ‘self-sovereign’ around their property data.   Our Core Logbook specification already includes a draft for a ‘Consent Dashboard’ model that seeks to provide a single point of consent.  Much like the ‘Notifications’ tool on a smart phone, a homeowner should be able to use their Consent Dashboard in a Logbook to view and manage all data sharing and permissions.   The Smart Data industry has to support homeowners as they take ownership and control through the roll-out of these consent dashboards. 


    Principle:  Homeowners need simple consent functionality that is standardised across all data sets related to their home. Homeowner consent should be one of the unifying drivers of all the smart data initiatives being discussed.




    Circles Not Lines - In property, the most problematic user-case is quite clearly Buying & Selling.  Everyone agrees it is a very high profile mess.  However, this is leading people to assume we should build Smart Data solutions for the home around the needs and interests of the property professionals in Buying & Selling.  This leads to the flawed idea that the transaction is the focus of all property data needs, and that there is a  linear process from the start of the transaction to the time the buyer’s conveyancer finishes their work.  All the key policy work in Europe has shown that, for a property record to be ‘persistent’, you have to put the property owner at the heart of process, and have the lifecycle of their property ownership as the organising principle.  With this perspective, you quickly come to a model of circularity in which the property record - the Logbook - is consistently updated through occupation, growing in depth and richness over time, and being passed on to new owners at sale. 


    Principle: Its a circle not a line.  Smart Data systems must enable a persistent property record - the Logbook - with immutable data, to be continually updated, passed on, updated and passed on.




    Property ID  - The RLBA has been petitioning the government for homeowners to be given access to ALL the data held about their property in Government or commercial systems. A key blocker has been enabling data holders to verify that a Logbook requesting data about a property is owned and controlled by the people who own the property (and therefore has a right to access restricted data about it).  The National Logbook Register (NLR) is now providing a partial solution, as it only registers Logbooks that have been ID verified by a conveyancer or estate agent.  Data holders are now able to use the NLR to verify a Logbook identity via API before passing over restricted data.  The system is being tested by both Property and Retrofit data providers.  The RLBA is the only organisation currently live with a solution that verifies owner ID before sharing restricted property data, but we recognise there is a much better way to do this.


    The DUAA offers the chance to build ID and consent mechanisms with cryptographically verifiable ID tokens, as well as systems that allow delegated access to those professionals a homeowner might want to access their data.  The RLBA intends to be at the heart of building and issuing these tokens.


    Principle: It is no longer acceptable to prevent a homeowner accessing data about their own property. We need a Smart Data environment that empowers a homeowner to be an active participant in digitised data sharing around their property. This must include tokenised identity systems that give them API access to restricted property data, coupled with both standard and delegated consent systems to enable them to continually manage access to their data.




    An Idea Whose Time Has Come -   It is gratifying that all players in government and industry are finally recognising the need for ‘secure, persistent, reusable property-level records’ under the control of the property owner.  Logbooks for residential property launched as far back as 2015 in the UK to deliver exactly this.


    The Logbook industry grew out of an early recognition of this need and has done the work to be ready for mass adoption.  The RLBA’s Core Logbook standard was agreed with MHCLG in 2020 and has been updated variously since.  The National Logbook Register(NLR), requested by MHCLG in 2020, launched in 2022 and is part of the RLBA’s broader self-regulatory process. It is already being used by conveyancers and data providers to validate the identity of a homeowner and their home online, and to create a facility to share the information that Logbooks hold with relevant professionals.  Our work with Government is focussed on them releasing more restricted data (eg HMLR records) to homeowners using the Register as a validation mechanism.


    Principle: The Logbook governance system in the UK is advanced and ready to play its part in delivering homeowner empowerment around Smart Data.




    Naming Conventions Matter - Everyone loves to re-invent a product, but launching complex digital services into consumer markets requires absolute consistency and clarity of terminology.  Naming conventions for Logbooks were resolved in 2018 when we, with MHCLG, aligned with the Europe-wide convention of calling a 'secure, persistent, reusable property-level data record' a ‘Logbook’.   Across Europe the term Digital Building Logbook (DBL) has been established as a cover-all for any property type, with residential ones using Digital Property Logbook to differentiate from the commercial offering.  Commercial DBL adoption is wrapped up in the roll-out of BIM and MMC as part of an increasingly digitised Facilities Management industry. 


    There is a huge amount of European policy and standards work already published on Logbooks, much of which the RLBA has participated in developing.  EU policy is particularly strong in the role of Logbooks for NetZero installations, and that is picking up pace in the UK.  Last year the Citizens Advice Policy Team wrote a report on data problems in Net Zero and called ‘for every home to have a Digital Property Logbook’ if they have solar and heatpumps installed. They also called for ‘MHCLG to prepare a roll-out programme for Digital Property Logbooks’.    This sentiment has been echoed many other organisations including the Which? Policy Team and the Energy Systems Catapult. 


    Principle: Consistency of naming conventions matters absolutely when launching complex new digital products into consumer markets.  We need to enforce this rigidly across all the new product concepts being launched in the Retrofit and Smart Data world.




    People Are Already Buying Logbooks  -  As we await the MHCLG Consultation announcement, with Logbooks expected to be confirmed as a key tool in the future Buying & Selling industry, there is an odd belief in some parts of the market that Logbooks haven’t launched.   Many RLBA member companies commercialised  Property Logbooks as far back as 2017 when the RLBA was formed with MHCLG’s help.   Our members have been selling Logbooks through Estate Agents, Conveyancers and Developers ever since.  There are approximately 500k Logbooks, built to an MHCLG agreed specification, in use across the UK residential market. Increasingly the NetZero/Retrofit industry is following suit. The National Retrofit Hub (NRH) wrote in its submission to the recent EPC Consultation "Government endorsement of Digital Building Logbooks (DBLs) could be a solution to storing, transferring and sharing this larger amount of data available on a home." 


    However, various Government departments keep re-inventing the concept (see OFGEM’s recent idea for an Energy Passport and MHCLG’s Future Homes Teams recent idea for a ‘Digital Home User Guide’ ).


    Principle: the MHCLG Consultation is the first step. The UK Government needs to follow up with a co-ordinated Logbook policy across all areas that wish to exploit the ‘persistent data record’ principle.  We need a UK Government Logbook Strategy.




    Other Products - Amongst Smart Data people there appears to be confusion between 'Digital Property Wallets and Digital Property Logbooks' - these are two distinct products.  Property Wallets are an FCA regulated financial services product which holds personal finance and bill paying information about a Property.  They are linked to an owner's personal finance accounts within the Open Banking framework.  A homeowner's personal finance information is expressly excluded from EU and UK Property Logbook data specifications.   The Property Wallet functionality is complementary but wholly different to a Property Logbook but both are crucial in the Smart Data world envisaged. For a wider look at the other digital information products launching in Retrofit see The Regulatory Landscape Around Digital Tools


    Principle:  Logbooks should only hold property specific information that an owner would be happy to immediately transfer to a buyer on sale.  Personal finance information about your home is personal finance information.




    Conclusion - None of us want to work on projects that enshrines legacy processes in new digital aspic. That does not constitute 'digital transformation'. The arrival of Smart Data principles in property offers the opportunity to do something truly revolutionary, to rebuild the whole property data landscape from first principles. In this new world, the RLBA believe, that these first principles should put the homeowner, their property and their rights to manage its data at the heart of new data ecosystem. We have an opportunity to build a citizen-centric world around property data. When pulling principles in from other sectors like personal finance, we should therefore focus on aspects like GDPR before 'open data'; on consent before connectivity. Currently, the Logbook community are the only players championing the homeowner and their right to protection and control. 


    This needs to change.

  • April 2026 - RLBA Launch Upfront Information (UFI) Group

    The RLBA has formally launched an Upfront Information Group (UFI) under its regulatory umbrella, to drive adoption of standardised upfront information as part of its response to the MHCLG Consultation.


    The new UFI group has been convened by Sally Holdway of HOP, who are one of the companies already offering both a Logbook and upfront information products alongside Sprift, Home Sellers Pack and Adoor [can we list anymore?].  Sally, who is Buying & Selling Lead for the RLBA, is targeting  the 12 or more stand-alone companies who currently offer forms of upfront information (UFI) product.  The intention is to standardise the products and provide a validation system based on the RLBA’s self-regulatory process and supported by an ‘RLBA Regulated’ watermark.


    Sally Holdway said “We recognise that Material Information and Digital Sales Packs have been provided at scale for several years now by the UFI providers,  , but having a regulated standard will ensure that any UFI company can be recognised and have their product accepted and used by any agent or conveyancer in a transaction.”


    Currently the RLBA is the only group with a self-regulatory solution for the two required upfront information products that will need to be codified and regulated after the MHCLG Consultation:  a Marketing Pack (containing material information targeted at agents and portals) and a Digital Sales Pack (containing the wider conveyancing-grade information required to be exchange ready).  Both these packs are already included in the RLBA Core Logbook Specification and, for Logbook companies, are part of their regulated data structure.  


    The RLBA self-regulatory process has been widened to include stand-alone UFI companies who recognise that upfront information will fail unless it is standardised and some form of regulation put in place that can guarantee data standards to agents and conveyancers.   Currently the National Logbook Register can show whether a Logbook has a completed Digital Sales Pack.  This functionality is being expanded so that UFI companies can list their products on the Register  


    Christian Woodhouse of Sprift said “We need to create an open market for upfront information products and we know that  won’t happen without mandation around a standard and regulation to guarantee data quality to all users.”


    A first objective therefore is to provide the conveyancing regulators a standard that they can endorse for their members based on existing protocol requirements and data formats, with a set of rolling trials of both packs in Q3 this year.  Secondly, the intention will be to work with MHCLG to plan the evolution towards ‘smart’ data and the use of trust frameworks like the PDTF.


    Ruth Beeton, Director at Home Sale Pack said “We have been delivering digital sales packs for several years now, and as lawyers we have an in-depth knowledge of what is required for packs to be compliant for the conveyancing process.  Having an industry wide ‘kitemark’ for digital sale packs will mean that UFI providers are clear on the standards they need to reach.


    Many upfront information companies pointed out that they weren’t consulted prior to the MHCLG Consultation and aren’t represented on any of the myriad industry committees.   The new UFI group has already been able to give the Government a single point of contact to enable them to speak to these providers as a group. As the UFI providers are already delivering hundreds of thousands of material information and digital sales packs annually, the intention next is to ensure the group have representation on the board of the DPMSG.


  • Febuary 2025 - RLBA Welcomes New Members

    The Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) has welcomed logbook providers HOP and Block Manager as members, taking the number of organisations in the trade association and self-regulatory body to eight, with the number of registered and compliant property logbooks standing at around half a million.


    RLBA champions the potential role of residential logbooks in residential property data and is working towards the implementation of all residential property transactions being supported by a regulated logbook. The association was asked by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Home Buying and Selling Council to create a self-regulatory framework to offer reassurance to the conveyancing industry that the logbooks will offer a standard data framework. The resulting system includes data standards, a compliance system and the National Register of Logbooks.


    HOP (Home Owners Passport) has worked with the RLBA to evolve its systems into a full logbook, offering conveyancers, agents and lenders a single secure source for trusted digital information. Block Manager is a software as a service (SaaS) platform which acts as a central repository for property documentation in communal building management. The start-up is supported by the Geovation Accelerator Programme, which is backed by Ordnance Survey and HM Land Registry.


    RLBA chair Nigel Walley commented:


    “The original vision was to create a market of logbook companies offering different propositions to suit the widely varying needs of the property market.  A logbook for a brand new apartment in a block is likely to have very different needs and functionality to a logbook designed for social housing, or for someone restoring a historic stand-alone house. 


    “The variety of offerings among RLBA members reflects this vision. Creating a self-regulatory system to support this variation has always been a key challenge.


     “We now have three logbook companies – NDD, Chimni and AHMS – fully compliant to the RLBA system and signing up logbooks on the register, with three more companies now completing technical testing. This means that there are approximately half a million logbooks now compliant with the standards agreed with MHCLG and findable on the Register. HOP and Block Manager will now start this process.” 

RLBA Presentation to the Council of Licenced Conveyancers (CLC) - May 2026

Previous News Stories

  • 1 June 2023 - RLBA Consortium Wins Retrofit Grant

    RLBA WINS GHFA GRANT TO EXPLORE HOW LOGBOOK CAN SUPPORT RETROFIT FOR THE RENTAL SECTOR


    The Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) is part of a consortium that has been awarded a Government grant via the Green Homes Finance Accelerator (GHFA) to explore how digital property logbooks can help drive the Retrofit of the 5M rented homes in the UK.


    The winning consortium includes the Energy Savings Trust (EST) who provide energy advice; Trustmark, who certify many of the Retrofit assessors and installers in the UK; and the Coventry Building Society, who will represent the many lenders in the rental market.


    The government have proposed that by December 2028, all existing privately rented properties will need an EPC rating of “C” or above. All new tenancies would need an EPC rating of "C"  by approx. 2026-2028 on current timescales.  The onus on Landlords is to begin preparing the project work to ensure their properties comply.


    The consortium’s project will look at ways of using Digital Property Logbooks to make this process, and the financing of the work, simpler and faster for the Rental industry.  In particular, it will focus on the data that is created during the Retrofit process. It will test innovative ways for Logbooks to share data widely during Retrofit, including with banks, and for it to be stored usefully once the process is over.  The project team believe the free exchange of data will enable lenders to provide more innovative, long term financing solutions to landlords.


    A key role for the RLBA will be cross-pollinating innovations with work in other parts of the property industry, including the Home Buying & Selling Group (HBSG) and The Lettings Industry Council (TLIC).  Nigel Walley of the RLBA said “We see the RLBA’s role as making the connections between the various strands of work going on in Retrofit, Buying & Selling and Rental.  Logbooks sit in the middle between all of them”




    A key HBSG initiative that will be included is the Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF) standards which are intended to ensure property data can be exchanged in a trusted and verified format.  Nigel Walley said “Our member logbooks are on a path to being PDTF compliant and this will help us bring the PDTF into the Retrofit and Surveying sectors.”


    The first part of the project will report back in September with further project stages subject to another round of tendering.


    End


  • 27 March 2023 - RLBA Launch 'Register of Logbooks'

    27 March 2023 - The Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) has launched the first iteration of its ‘Register of Property Logbooks’ providing the conveyancing world with direct access to a verified record of logbooks for UK addresses.


    One of the RLBA’s commitments to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUCH) in 2019 was that its self-regulatory process would include a Register of Logbooks accessible via estate agent and conveyancer systems. This would enable the swift exchange of data between vendor logbooks and the buying and selling community, as well as supporting the fight against property fraud.  Version 1.0 of the Register launched this week.


    The RLBA Register contains a list of ‘verified’ logbooks.  In this context ‘verified’ means the core data structure conforms to the RLBA specification and the identity of the user and their ownership of the property has been confirmed.  Currently, the Register only lists logbooks that have been through the conveyancing process, and which have been listed directly by conveyancers. However, a future release will include logbooks set up outside the buying and selling process, which includes digital ID verification tools in its account set up.


    RLBA Head of Policy, Simon Lumb, said: “Ensuring logbooks can show verified ID and property ownership is a key component of the Register, hence the current limit to conveyancer listed logbooks.   As the digital mechanisms for linking personal ID to property ID are confirmed we will widen the criteria for listing.”


    An immediate use will be supporting the recent update to the Buying and Selling Property Information (BASPI) form, which requires vendors to confirm if a property logbook is available.  The Register will automatically complete the relevant fields for digital versions of the BASPI. Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at the Conveyancing Association said “The CA has always been supportive of Property Logbooks, as long as its clear there is only one per property. The RLBA Register enables us to ensure that digitally.” 


    The RLBA Register can show if an address has a verified logbook, provide the supplier name and flag if the logbook holds any of the data products that an agency or conveyancer might want to download. These include Property Packs, Lettings MOTs or specific documentation like a Leaseholder Deed of Certificate, which have all been included in the RLBA data standards.   The next Register upgrade in Q3 of 2023 will enable the direct download of the data and documents from these data products, from a logbook to the estate agent or law firm’s CRM system, via the RLBA data hub.


    Beth Rudolf said “Seeing the beginning of the Register of Property Logbooks is an exciting moment as it will eventually enable logbooks to act as a digital version of the paper deeds packets. These previously saved a huge amount of time as they collated all the important information in one place. To have that available digitally and able to be pulled into case management software will be the icing on the cake.”


    The current Register API has been opened up to a first wave of proptech apps, including Moverley and adoor who have incorporated the BASPI into their systems and will use the link to the Register to auto-fill the BASPI questions relating to logbooks. Ed Molyneux, co-founder Moverly, said: “It's only by working together collaboratively, using digital logbooks to store and pass on information from homeowner to homeowner, that we can hope to achieve a real transformation. It's long overdue!”


  • 10 July 2021 - Response to Law Commission Consultation - Digital Assets


    The Law Commission have opened a Consultation on Digital Assets.  They state that Digital assets are generally treated as property by market participants. Property and property rights are vital to modern social, economic and legal systems and should be recognised and protected as such.   The consultation requests input from individuals and industry bodies on key aspects of law relating to their industry. 


    Overview

    The Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) believe that a residential Property Logbook is a clear example of a ‘digital asset’ whose recognition, status and treatment in law have yet to be defined in any meaningful way by the legal industry.   


    We have responded to the Law Commission’s Consultation making that case for their recognition in laws relating to property, assets and transactions.   However, we have framed the call for Property Logbook recognition within a call to consider the wider context for ‘digital assets’.  


    We make the case that there is an ‘immediate’ problem to be resolved in residential property law around digital assets made up of data, online services, apps and logbooks;  and a ‘future’ challenge around blockchain and crypto-based issues for which we can begin to layout principles.   


    We have urged the Law Commission not to focus on the second of these issues (which are more high profile) before solving the first (which have immediate commercial implications..


    This document summarises the RLBA response to both sets of issues raised in our submission and, at the end, we have provided the full text of our submission as entered on the Law Commission website.  


    See the RLBA Submission on the next page.




    The RLBA Summary Response


    The Residential Logbook Association recognises that the concept of digital assets has implications for a wide range of industries and processes.    Our focus is specifically on their recognition and use in connection with residential property and, in particular, transfer of ownership during residential property transactions. 


    The RLBA believes that recognition of digital assets is a key factor in the wider digitisation of the property industry.  This issue is an outcome of the wider digitisation in the way we run our homes and interact with the services providers around us. It is poorly reflected in current property law and the RLBA believe it requires urgent attention within the wider changes occurring within conveyancing.    


    There is an emphasis in the Law Commission’s overview briefing on blockchain based concepts and technologies (cryptoassets, smart contracts, distributed ledger technology etc). For residential property these are ‘future’ concepts and we comment on their implication for residential property markets in the second part of our submission. However, the term ‘digital assets’ has a wider and more ‘immediate’ implication for residential property and property transactions that we believe need urgent action.  We urge the Law Commission to focus on the immediate before addressing future issues.


    The RLBA defines the term ‘digital assets’ as referring to a wide range of online accounts, passcodes, and apps that create a fog of connected data around our homes. Ownership of these assets is not well defined and this problem becomes most obvious now when a home gets sold.   The RLBA breaks down this mess of digital activity into at least three types of digital ‘asset’ that need to be considered when buying or selling a home:

    • Online accounts for services (eg utilities) and the data they hold against a specific property

    • Online accounts attached to fixed hardware (eg central heating apps and CCTV apps) which need to be passed on at sale

    • Data and digital documentation held in long-term records (eg residential property logbooks) which need to be recognised.



    We have made the case that the above systems, accounts and records need to be recognised in law as ‘digital assets’ attached to ‘physical asset’ of a home.  They may need to be considered as part of a property’s ‘fixtures and fittings’, with principles and processes established to ensure their transfer to new owners when the ownership of the physical asset is also transferred.  Our submission states:


    “The law needs to evolve to both recognise the existence of digital assets and the principle that they can be attached to a property asset”.


    We also make the case that any organisation creating data on behalf of a property should not be viewed as the ‘owner’ of that data, but as an agent for the property owner with the data recognised as belonging to the main property asset.  Our submission states:

    “Digital assets created by an owner, or by a third party organisation for or about a property and its performance should accrue in law to that property’s asset base”

    With a specific reference to the Law Commissions question on the nature of ‘possession’ around digital assets the RLBA make the case that ‘ownership’ needs to be defined as:


    ‘having a sole right to access, manage and transfer the asset, but this right might be mediated by a third party’


     ‘possession’ needs to be defined as:


     ‘having control of the means to access, manage and transfer the asset’.


    We offered the following examples to differentiate between ‘ownership’ and ‘possession’ of a digital asset as it impacts Residential property:


    Ownership - The data held by a utility on the energy performance of a home may be described as being ‘owned by the homeowner’ as part of their wider ownership of the property asset.  Ownership implies the right to dictate how the data is stored and used.  But the data is not ‘possessed by them’ as they have no direct control over where and how it is stored, and have no rights to move, delete or transfer that data.


    Possession - The data and/or documentation held by a  homeowner in Property Logbook may be described as being both ‘owned by the homeowner’ as part of their wider ownership of the property asset, but also ‘possessed by them’ as they have direct control over where and how it is stored, and have rights to move, delete* or transfer that data. (*Note: some data in Property Logbooks is immutable so cannot be deleted).


    Very specifically, these concepts impact residential property in two ways.  A homeowner selling their property needs to be able to transfer both kinds of data to a new owner on completion.  More importantly, 


    “the act of transferring control should be an explicit and recognised step in the conveyancing process - as outlined in the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS).”


    The RLBA would welcome debate on all the above points of immediate concern and will be participating in any industry wide discussion of the points.  We also recognise there is need to debate the implications of future changes, and the use of blockchain based concepts in residential property. 


    Comment On Blockchain Based Digital Assets

    This section offers the RLBA’s comment on various aspects of the potential use of blockchain technology in residential property transactions, with a particular focus on Distributed Ledger, Smart Contract and Tokenisation.


    Distributed Ledger

    The RLBA recognises that, in societies with very low trust in institutions, and where no Land Registry functions exist, then it is possible to imagine the advent of disintermediated blockchain-based property registers that utilise the ‘Distributed Ledger’ capability to create trust.  However the UK is not one of those markets, and we expect any blockchain based property register to be introduced and managed by the Land Registry. 


    Smart Contracts

    While we recognise that ‘Smart Contract’ systems, based on blockchain protocols may play a part in enabling transactions to take place in the future, we recognise there is currently no overarching or dominant protocol that links all blockchain protocols and that a series of incompatible Smart Contract systems is a likely outcome in the short term.   We therefore anticipate Smart Contracts for residential property transactions will have to take place either 

    - in systems where both parties recognise the same protocol and agree use of the system, (eg in auction systems, or conveyancer CRMs)...or

    - in a standard UK system run by a single trusted agent (most likely the Land Registry).

    In the second of these concepts, it is possible to envisage the Land Registry Smart Contracts becoming recognised as 'digital deeds'.  However, in both systems the Smart Contract (or ‘digital deed’) would be ownable but not possessable due to the nature of Smart Contract systems.  


    The RLBA would encourage development of rules for these systems in which the homeowner can realise the concept of ‘ownership’ through a range of access routes.   We anticipate Property Logbooks adding functions by which Smart Contracts can be recorded and accessed.  The ‘ownership’ right to a Smart Contract must be realisable through third party systems; be attachable to another digital asset (ie Logbook)  and transferable on sale of the underlying property.


    Tokenisation

    However, of greater concern is the potential for tokenisation of residential property ownership, and specifically, how those tokens may be recognised in law and used in digital systems as proof of ownership of a residential property.  


    The RLBA recognises that blockchain based tokens can be both ‘owned’ and ‘possessed’.  If the residential property market were to adopt a tokenised system (where property ownership is enshrined in a form of crypto token supported by smart contracts) then a homeowner would, by definition, be deemed to own the token and which represented ownership of the underlying physical and digital assets.   In the UK we would advocate that this be within a system built and managed by the Land Registry.


    We also recognise that a homeowner would be able to ‘possess’ the token with the correct property related wallet software.  We anticipate Property Logbooks developing a residential token ‘wallet’ (analogous to a bitcoin wallet) but it would need to be interoperable with a token issuing system which is, once again, created and managed by Land Registry.


    While possession of a property token may technically mean that confirmation or personal identity would not be required for each transaction, we anticipate that KYC/AML checks would would not be superseded, but might be sought once at the point where people sign up to use the blockchain system. 

    End.


  • 22 June 2021 - RLBA Meet Housing Minister Christopher Pincher


    The RLBA Met With Housing Minister Christopher Pincher MP To Widen The Debate About Property Logbooks Across The Property Lifecycle




    The RLBA held a meeting with Minister for Housing Christopher Pincher MP on Tuesday  to find out more about the RLBA’s 8X Projects and also the work that the RLBA and its members are doing across the whole lifecycle of acquiring and running a home.  


    The RLBA Members were particularly keen for him to understand that Residential Property Logbooks are a live product in the UK market, and we are plotting our route from approx 250k users to 25M. 


    The RLBA’s 8X Projects are a series of trials aimed at calculating the potential impact of freely available, machine readable data at four key stages of the home buying & selling process. Working with a group of partner companies, the RLBA are investigating how Property Logbooks can help drive the sales process down to under 8 weeks from offer to completion.


    The Minister recognised that”Property Logbooks can be a ‘powerful tool’ in speeding up home buying & selling” and that “the work the RLBA was doing to standardise and codify their use was instrumental in achieving scale for what is a fundamentally new class of service”.   Revealing his background in IT, the Minister challenged RLBA members on plan for data security, scale and roll-out capability.


    The Minister was keen to explore  the wider potential for Property Logbooks to support innovation across the whole home ownership lifecycle.  In particular, how Logbooks can support a range of Govt. objectives around housing and housing data – particularly the wider adoption of the UPRN.   We highlighted the work being done around Local Government data and services, as well as the support that RLBA members are giving to UK mortgage world around reporting for Green Finance loans and the  roll-out of Retrofit Plans.  


    We emphasised that Logbooks were putting homeowners and residents at the heart of the digital revolution around residential  property data.  “The ‘citizen-centric’ approach offered by Property Logbooks  gives  homeowners a seat at the table when digital innovation is being planned” 


  • 10 June 2021 - Response to Law Commission 14th Consultation

    This is the RLBA's Response to the Law Commision's 14th Programme of Law Reform Consultation.


    Overview

    The RLBA have responded to the Law Commission’s Consultation on its 14th Programme of Law Reform.   We fully support the recommendations put forward by the Conveyancing association (CA) with regard to the digitisation of the property transaction process and our submissions echoes their requests in those areas.    Our submission makes the point that:


    “We need laws that enable buyers to simply and quickly understand the quality, tenure and legal requirements around a property before they make an offer.”


    We also support the principle that the law has to recognise the potential of new digital technology in effecting fast transactions to take place and our submission makes the point:


    “We need the law to support the rapid exchange of property that is now possible in end-to-end digital systems.“


    We make the point that dematerialising of deeds documents with the Land Registration Act 2002 has provided many benefits, but has robbed conveyancers of a historic view, extending the investigative work they need to undertake.  We have made the case that: 


    “The Land Registry should issue ‘digital deeds’ summarising all past transactions as an extensible open data feed to conveyancer systems, property logbook and digital ‘sellers packs’.”


    We have also raised the specific issue of the recognition of digital assets within property law.  This issue is an outcome of the wider digitisation in the way we run our homes and interact with the services providers around us. It is poorly reflected in current property law and the RLBA believe it requires urgent attention within the wider changes occurring within conveyancing.   

     

    The term ‘digital assets’ refers to the online accounts, passcodes, and apps that create a fog of connected data around our homes. Ownership of this data is not well defined and this problem becomes most obvious now when a home gets sold.   


    The RLBA breaks down this mess of digital activity into at least three types of digital ‘asset’ that need to be considered when buying or selling a home

    • Online accounts for services (eg utilities and their data)

    • Online accounts attached to fixed hardware (eg central heating and CCTV apps)

    • Data in long-term records (eg residential property logbooks).


    We have made the case that ‘digital assets’ need to be recognised as part of a property’s ‘fixtures and fittings’, with principles and processes established to ensure their transfer to new owners when the ownership of the physical asset is also transferred.  Our submission states:

    “The law needs to evolve to both recognise the existence of digital assets and the principle that they can be attached to a property asset”.


    The RLBA would welcome debate on all the above points and will be participating in any industry wide discussion of the points.


    Click here to download the full submission:




  • 16 April 2021 - RLBA Members In the Sunday Times

    The tech innovators shaking up the housing market:


    By Carole Lewis


    The buying and selling process needs an overhaul and technology has a key role to play. Here we have gathered a selection of innovations — often born of the frustrations of those caught in the system — that aim to change the way the market works.


    Chimni

    A free property logbook in which homeowners can store all key documents, from title deeds to energy performance certificates, whether they are selling, letting or not. There are sections in which to store all the information on DIY or building projects, as well as a space for compiling your home’s history (chimni.com).


    Coadjute

    A secure blockchain network that connects estate agents, conveyancers, mortgage brokers and lenders via their existing software systems. The system allows the parties to track events, message each other securely and exchange documents (coadjute.com).


    Gazeal

    A platform aimed primarily at estate agents that brings together buyers, sellers and property professionals. It starts with a buyer information pack containing all the key documents and information; it is filled out by the seller when the property is put on the market and is transferred to the conveyancers when a deal is struck. The system has a reservation agreement component should sellers want to make the offer binding (gazeal.co.uk).


    National Deeds Depository

    Key paperwork is sent from conveyancers to the depository, where they are scanned and stored in a property logbook. The logbook can be accessed, via secure logins, by homeowners, conveyancers and mortgage brokers in order to share documents (thedeedsdepository.com).


    Pip

    Property Information Products (Pip) has created Pip Vault, which has digital logbooks in which property documents can be stored. Seller information is uploaded by estate agents when a property is marketed; the documents can then be viewed by potential buyers and their conveyancing solicitor when a deal is struck (pipreport.co.uk).


    Spaciable

    A property portal combined with a logbook for those buying, selling, renting, building or managing new-build properties. Added features include an online library of appliance manuals, warrant documents and energy certificates, and a digital address book (home.spaciable.com).


    Sprift

    Sprift searches for and collates information such as title plans, floor plans, flood risk, council tax and energy certificates, for landlords, developers, and estate and lettings agents. The documents can then be shared with buyers, sellers, tenants and conveyancers via a central dashboard (sprift.com).


    Twindig

    A combination of property logbook and property tracker for homeowners. Claim your home on the system (mark whether you are selling, thinking of selling or settled) and upload your documents for safekeeping. Follow homes that you might be interested in buying if they came on the market and track their estimated price fluctuations (twindig.com).


    Yourkeys

    Aimed at housebuilders, this is a platform that tracks sales from reservation to completion for developers and buyers. The system links to a network of conveyancers, mortgage brokers and (shortly) estate agents to enable the sharing of documents during the sale (yourkeys.com).


    Have we missed someone? If you would like to recommend a property market disruptor then get in touch at carol.lewis@thetimes.co.uk

  • 10 August 2020 - Response to Geovation Commission 'Housing Landscape Report'

    RLBA Responds to the Geovation Commission 'Housing Landscape Report'


     

    The Geospatial Commission recently commissioned Newgate Research to survey the UK housing landscape and report on the current and potential use of geospatial data through all stages of the housing lifecycle. The report was issued to industry and representative bodies, who were asked to comment and and respond. Below is the RLBA response:


     

    We are responding to your recent request for feedback on the ‘Phase 1 Housing Landscape’ report produced for the Geospatial Commission by Newgate Research. The comments below are the response of the Residential Logbook Association which, as you will know, represents the interests of suppliers and users of data logbooks for residential property owners.


     

    1.   Firstly, we would flag up that, in a whole report about ‘housing’ there is no mention of ‘homeowners’ or ‘occupiers of homes’ at any point or any reflection on their needs/interests in geospatial data about their home. Further, we also note that you haven’t named any consumer or homeowner organisations in the list of completed and planned interviewees (these might have included Homeowners Alliance, Which etc). This means that the report assumes that geospatial data around homes is merely a B2B area of interest and that, even in our increasingly digital world, homeowners won’t seek or be given access to geospatial data. You will be aware that the emergence of the property logbook industry disproves that position. 


     

    2. The way that the report is structured reinforces this omission. The report identifies five stages to ‘the planning and housing journey’. These cover all the major planning and development stages leading up to the completion of a property. But the report has nothing beyond that point from the homebuyers point of view. This may include when homeowners are considering property to buy, after they have moved in or when they are planning to sell on in the future. There is therefore, no assumption that the homeowner may want any access to Geospatial data or related functionality before or during their occupation of a home. The work of the logbook providers in the RLBA takes a different view. We would also point to the work of the Law Society and Conveyancing Association on ‘upfront data’ which is explicitly looking to put homeowners in control of data on their home before and during the sales process.


     

    3.  We want to flag up that, in Commercial Property, there is a clear 6th stage in all discussion about tech and data - the Operate & Maintain (O&M) stage of a building. In this stage the owner (or their FM company) is increasingly given access to geospatial data, construction data etc as part of function running their property. As homeowners, and all the service organisations that support them, become increasingly digitally literate, we increasingly have to think about the 6th Stage in residential property – when properties are occupied. Perhaps in Residential we could define a ‘Residential O&M’ stage as ‘Occupy & Maintain’ to help us think about what data could and should be available to homeowners and how they might use it.


     

    4.   We believe that the comments above support the aims of various arms of government, who are exhorting the homeowner to keep better digital records through the life of their property (eg Dame Hackitt’s ‘Golden Thread). Government is pushing industry sectors like ‘Home Buying & Selling’, ‘Lettings & Rental’, ‘Planning & Local Gov’, ‘Retrofit’ etc to engage digitally with the homeowner through radically upgraded processes and practices. Each of these areas assumes that the homeowner will have access and control of an increasing amount of the data on their homes and local area. The residential logbook phenomenon reflects this.


     

    5.   Finally, we note that, even though a group of logbook companies met with the Geospatial Commission earlier in the year to discuss these issues, the report completely ignores the idea of a property logbook, or even Dame Hackitt’s ‘Golden thread’ of property data. It doesn’t even mention logbooks or even the HBSG in the ‘MHCLG-led initiatives’ section.


     

    We recognise that some of these ideas our members are working on are currently conceptual, or only now being brought to market. But your report needs to focus on the Residential Housing market in front of us, not the one in the rear view mirror. Homeowner access to and use of geospatial data is a significant new trend that needs to be included. The RLBA would be happy to engage with you on the next stage of the report to build on this.


     


     


    Nigel Walley


    Chair – Residential Logbook Association