HM Land Registry is modernising its data to make life easier for investors, amongst others.
It’s going to increase its use of Unique Property Reference Numbers in a bid to help identify properties and land more accurately.
It’s also going to use INSPIRE IDs – automatically generated unique numbers given to pieces of land.
UPRNs have been around since 2020 but have not been adopted universally in the property industry.
Now HM Land Registry is to put them on property price data for all residential and commercial sales in England and Wales.
The Registry says a range of players across the property industry will benefit, mostly those involved in property acquisition.
These are the benefits it claims will flow from the changes:
Developers and investors
- Better site and land analysis: INSPIRE IDs would allow developers and investors to connect sold-price information to land parcels and boundaries, supporting more accurate site assembly and opportunity assessment;
- More granular market insight: Linking prices to UPRNs and INSPIRE IDs would enable analysis at property, street, neighbourhood and land-parcel level, supporting better investment and planning decisions.
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Estate agents and property portals
- More accurate listing data: Linking Price Paid Data to UPRNs would help agents and portals match historic sale prices to the correct property, reducing errors caused by inconsistent addresses or duplicate records;
- Clearer property history: A stable property identifier would make it easier to show a reliable transaction history for a specific property, improving transparency for buyers and sellers.
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Homebuyers and sellers
- Reduced confusion: UPRNs and INSPIRE IDs would help reduce issues caused by address changes, similar property names or inconsistent address formats, supporting smoother property transactions.
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Financial institutions and lenders
- More reliable property matching: UPRNs would give lenders a consistent way to connect sale price, address and property records, reducing uncertainty during valuation, mortgage assessment and due diligence;
- Improved risk analysis: INSPIRE IDs would help link transaction values to land parcels and spatial data, supporting clearer assessment of location-based risks and property context.
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