Kotini and the Open Property Data Association

Almost a year ago, in April 2023, we joined forces with a group of companies in the property industry led by Maria Harris to found the Open Property Data Association and drive forward the sharing and use of trusted open property data. All in the name of improving the efficiency of property transactions. 

Why? Estate Agents and Conveyancers waste an estimated 4 million working days every year on aborted transactions, costing them close to £ 1 billion in cumulative direct costs.

This huge amount of waste is in part caused by property data that’s not fit for the needs of a property transaction. This can only be solved through collaboration, which is why we’re proud to be a driving force behind this movement.

The Open Property Data Association’s mission

Our mission is to promote the sharing and use of trusted open property data and to provide a forum for collaboration and innovation in the industry. Open data and technology standards are essential for making informed decisions about property, whether you’re a buyer, seller, lender, intermediary, surveyor, or conveyancer.

We facilitate collaboration opportunities, provide a voice to shape the future of property data, and advocate for the use of open property data. We also offer access to a community of experts and thought leaders who can help you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices concerning property data.

And it’s open to all, from proptech start-ups (like us) to giants in the industry (like Lloyds Bank and OnTheMarket). We welcome everyone who shares our vision for a better, more transparent and interoperable property industry.

Great, another association, that’s all talk… WRONG

In the last 12 months (and with lots of volunteer work prior), the Open Property Data Association has developed and published the Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF). An open-source project that enables people and organisations to use and reuse information relating to a property. 

It allows everyone involved in a property transaction to access and share authenticated property information or “property attributes” with each other. In essence, it’s open banking for the property sector. 

It’s a set of common language fields, data formats, technical specifications, and process rules that all participant organisations agree to follow to deliver one or more of their services. It covers standards, guidance, and rules that could translate to mandation or legislation.

It’s the first of its kind, being adopted at pace and has created a platform for companies like ours to innovate rapidly.

Why do we need a trust framework?

Unlike many other processes or transactions, the property industry has stakeholders spanning at least eight professions, each with its own priorities, regulators, and rules. This creates a nightmare for collaboration as everyone wants and needs something different from a property transaction, and everyone talks in their own language.

The PDTF provides the property industry with the tools needed to create a single source of truth for property and a common way to communicate and share this source of truth. 

It even goes one step further and provides the companies using it with the means to provide data with provenance (i.e. where it originated from and some form of authentication), adding transparency over the data trail and reinforcing trust.

For Kotini, this means the data we collect for the hundreds of properties we help agents put on the market each month can be represented in a way that the conveyancer, broker, lender, and other systems can understand and use. Most importantly, they’ll be able to trust it later in a transaction, reducing duplication of effort and waste. 

How do you get involved?

If you want to join us and a growing group of businesses in transforming the home-buying process, you can find out more on the Open Property Data Association website.