CoPSO Conference 2023 - summary of the day
25 May 2023
The Chairman, James Sherwood-Rogers, welcomed over 60 members to the VSC. He thanked the exhibitors – UKGlobal as Headline sponsor, Partner members - Legal Protection Group and Stewart Title and HM Land Registry for supporting the event. They were available throughout the day to answer questions from members.
He gave an update on the following ongoing activities –
- Involvement with the Home Buying and Selling Group
- Continued engagement with DLUHC on access to data
- Updates and roll out of Compliance Notes
- Guidance to members following the amendments to the Lenders’ Handbook
- Considerable engagement with Local Authorities, over 50 in total with 26 issues resolved
- Taking part in industry round tables
James reinforced the importance of the Search Code to protect lawyers/conveyancers against the backdrop of the changes to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook as they must bear responsibility for the searches they procure.
James concluded with a look to the future, the impact of consolidation, continuing to challenge local authorities, changes to upfront information and new technology in the property market.
Up next was Kate Faulkner OBE, who covered the good and bad news for 2023, what’s happening in the economy and the impact on the property market, what’s happening politically and the ramifications and why 2023 is still difficult to predict. With the latest stats, hot off the press, Kate gave an insightful presentation, and she will be presenting regular webinars, thanks to LPG, in the future. Further details on dates are available by contacting emma@copso.org.uk
The next speaker was Nicky Heathcote, Chair of the Property Codes Compliance Board (PCCB) who outlined the work of the Compliance Committee and Inspection Team. She explained what protection the Search Code gives and the benefits for consumers, estate agents, conveyancers and mortgage lenders.
Paul Albone, representing the HBSG’s, covered the Property Data Trust Framework. The objectives are wanting information in the home buying process to be available upfront to enable informed decision-making and to reduce time, uncertainty, risks and stress for customers. This requires data to be recorded in standardised formats. The framework has been developed to enable the frictionless exchange of property data between software products and services, supported by trusted information regarding the provenance of that data. They are now working to extend the framework for wider scope and better interoperability and drive multiple parallel pilot programmes to demonstrate value in the real world.
Charlotte Mawson, Adjudication Manager at The Property Ombudsman gave the headlines of activity over the last 12 months. It was interesting to note that the number of cases referred to TPO had reduced compared to 2022. She then covered three case studies where members could use Slido to give their opinion on the award given. Charlotte was not surprised that the majority of members got all three awards correct and applauded them on being so helpful and co-operative when dealing with TPO.
The last session before lunch was with Jamie Winch and Nick Boddington from HM Land Registry. Jamie began with an update on the migration project with 75 local authorities live on the register to date, with activity ramping up for 141 authorities in allocation in the next financial year. Nick then explained about the ongoing support once an authority is live with regular visits, quarterly forums and a relationship manager to keep communication open to help monitor and maintain standards.
The afternoon session began with Simon Law, Chair of the Society for Licensed Conveyancers, giving a conveyancer’s view of the market and how it is important to use Search Code subscribers to protect consumers. Beth Rudolf from the HBSG followed with their work to create a digital consumer centric home buying and selling process. Encouraging sellers to appoint a conveyancer on day 1 of instruction, mandate digital property packs with upfront information accessible to all stakeholders in the transition and to facilitate the use of a single digital identity available throughout the process. Nigel Walley, representing RLBA, the Residential Logbook Association concluded the afternoon sessions by giving a background to the RLBA and the objective for every home to have a full digital record of key data on transactions, maintenance and certification. This would potentially enable working with local authorities to include planning records, retrofit status, rental oversight and first homes.
An interesting Q & A session followed with Simon, Beth, Nigel and Paula Higgins (representing the PCCB Compliance Committee) answering questions from the floor.
James then summarised the day and thanked delegates, speakers and exhibitors for attending.