The Smart Property Data Sandbox: From Proof of Concept to Open Ecosystem

Maria Harris set out the case for trust frameworks in our February magazine. The logic was clear: the property market has digitised extensively, but without shared standards, governance and liability structures, that digitisation cannot become interoperable. Individual systems improve, but the ecosystem stays fragmented.

Since then, the Smart Property Data Trust Framework Sandbox has moved from concept to proof. The results matter, not because they are theoretical, but because they demonstrate something that has not been possible before: trusted property data accessed, verified and shared across organisational boundaries in an open, standards-based environment.

Readers of Digital Disruption will be familiar with the structural challenge: data is recreated at every organisational boundary, checks are duplicated, evidence gathered at one stage of the transaction is not reliably available at the next. Not because the data does not exist, but because there is no shared mechanism for it to travel.

The sandbox is designed to test whether that mechanism could work. It brings together conveyancers, lenders, brokers, technology providers and public bodies in a controlled environment to test how trusted data sharing could operate across the whole transaction — not within isolated bilateral arrangements, but on an open, ecosystem-wide basis.

The distinction matters. Bilateral data sharing already happens in pockets, but each arrangement requires its own legal, technical and commercial agreements. That model does not scale. The sandbox is testing a different proposition: what happens when organisations can become authorised, connect once, and reuse that connection as others join?

One of the first organisations to test this in practice was Kotini, a proptech firm operating in the upfront information space. For smaller companies trying to innovate in this market, the cost of connectivity has been a persistent barrier.

“Every time we wanted to do something new or work with another business, we were paying what I’d call an innovation tax,” said Kieran Witt, Founder of Kotini. “We were spending less time improving products for customers because the first thing we’d need to do was work out how to connect with and manage different systems and providers.”

The sandbox test demonstrated a complete end-to-end journey. Kotini securely accessed property data from HM Land Registry as an authoritative source, verified credentials, and shared that data onward, with a clear record of provenance and integrity maintained throughout. Before the sandbox, each new use case would have meant building another bespoke connection. The sandbox created a shared environment where that work only needs to happen once.

“We’re the first ones there,” Kieran said, “and we’re really pleased we’ve been able to prove the connection works with Land Registry data in a sandbox environment. Now, when anyone else joins we don’t need to build that connection again, we can just plug in.”

The implications go beyond Kotini. If the cost of connecting to the ecosystem drops, the range of organisations that can participate and innovate within it widens significantly.

“Initiatives like this genuinely help to democratise innovation in the property industry,” Kieran added. “If you only need to build one connection instead of hundreds, it changes who is able to innovate and compete.”

What the sandbox has established is not a finished product. It is a proof point: evidence that the governance, standards and technical infrastructure required for open, trusted data sharing can work in practice. The next step is participation.

“What we’ve proven with the sandbox is the ability to reuse and share data openly across the property ecosystem for the first time. This is an exciting development for the industry and we want more organisations to follow Kotini’s lead and help us to build the trust framework, governance, and standards that will allow us to transform the home moving process.”

Maria Harris, Chair of the OPDA, placed the sandbox results alongside other recent progress in the market.

“There’s some fantastic work being done across the industry and the recent Lloyds, Connells, LMS collaboration is a great example of that. The sandbox complements this progress by providing an open, standards-based environment where any organisation can plug in and test data sharing,” she said.

“While the sandbox will continue through to later this year, including further testing and collaborative hackathons, this first use case marks an important milestone. It shows that a more connected, trusted approach to property data is no longer just a policy ambition, but something that has now been proven to work in practice.”

The sandbox is now moving from proving what is technically possible to tackling real business problems. A four-day hackathon will bring organisations together to define practical use cases, shape problem statements and explore solutions, with hands-on support available throughout.

Participation is not limited to technical teams. Non-technical contributors can help map customer and operational journeys, develop scenarios and test ideas to ensure the outcomes reflect real-world needs.

To get involved, contact Paul Albone at paul@openpropdata.org.uk.