PROPTECH-X ‘Proptech & Property News’: New Home Builders Implementing Customer Identity Standards with a UPRN | Nominations are open for Geovation’s inaugural Geospatial Innovation Awards

New Home Builders Implementing Customer Identity Standards with a UPRN

In my day job as CEO and Founder of Proptech-PR ‘A consultancy for Proptech Founders’ we come across and get involved with and support many iniatives, for many years we have been big advocates for resolving the need to sort out the tangled and imperfect infrastucture around the ID and AML, across all the verticals in real estate. And we know that Stuart Young has been making herculean efforts, to make this a reality. Here is the latest from Stuart CEO and Founder of Etive Technologies.

‘The Home Builders Federation (HBF) and Etive are pleased to see the variety of members are starting to implement the new customer identity verification (IDV) and anti-money laundering (AML) standards, either on their own or with the assistance of their panel conveyancers and brokers.  

The MyIdentity Overlay Scheme has developed additional rules on top of those already in the DIATF to better meet the specific customer service and business needs of new home builders.

One of the new data sets for customer IDV is the use of the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN), which is provided by the MyIdentity scheme. The UPRN is a unique identifier for every property in the country. By linking a certified customer’s identity to the property’s UPRN, the sales process can be made more secure and streamlined. Many mortgage lenders require a UPRN in order to provide a mortgage, so including this information can speed up the mortgage lending process. The UPRN can also be used by builders to link services, such as utilities, and other data, like an EPC, to the property.

Richard Duffield, Head of Customer Insights at GeoPlace says; “As a partnership between Local Government and Ordnance Survey, GeoPlace helps government and the private sector make the best use of property level address data – which includes the definitive UPRN. The UPRN is a nationally managed unique identifier for every property and is the key to sharing, linking and analysing data for better decisions and understanding property through its entire lifecycle from planning application to demolition. Read more about how Property developers hold the digital keys to the homes, services and lives we need to build.

As each new home comes on the market, it will have a UPRN included in its Property Log Book, which will act as the glue between the property, the UPRN and the certified buyer’s identity.  This will make it easier for builders to convey the property, as the UPRN can be used by many mortgage lenders to facilitate the mortgage lending process.

This will also help to reduce errors associated with wrong property address information, increase the barriers to fraud, help those properties being sold off-plan, and help new owners when they come to sell again in the future.

Steve Turner, Executive Director of the HBF said “We continue to make good progress to develop a set of standards for house builders to prove a customers identity digitally.  The work aims to create a new process that will improve the customer experience in a way that is workable for industry and that aligns with emerging Government legislation and standards.

We now have a large number of members signed up that is really helping to ensure that the scheme develops in a way that is workable for companies of all sizes. We are encouraging all members to engage in the process and to ensure they are aware of and prepared for implementation of the impending requirements.”

This further demonstrates the efforts being made to enhance the customer experience when purchasing a new home and to improve the overall home buying journey.

For more details on the standards contact Stuart Young at s.young@myidentity.org.uk  

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Nominations are open for Geovation’s inaugural Geospatial Innovation Awards

Geovation, Ordnance Survey’s (OS) award winning open innovation network hub, is launching a brand new awards ceremony for the geospatial industry. 

The Geospatial Innovation Awards aim to celebrate innovators who use location data and technology to find solutions that tackle the climate crisis and encourage sustainable development for the future.

The geospatial industry is thriving and receives universal recognition for the critical role that trusted location data and services can play in tackling local and global challenges. From climate change and urbanisation to growing economies through innovation and start-ups. These awards are a chance to shine a light on this amazing work.

The awards, which take place in London on 15 June 2023, are comprised of five award categories and are based around achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The five awards available are:

Places for the future

Solutions that help build smart cities and communities, provide citizens with affordable clean energy, and develop resilient infrastructure for sustainable development and innovation.

What will our smart cities of the future be like?

Land, sea and air

From developing solutions that combat climate change, to ideas that help us conserve oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, as well as protecting and restoring land-based ecosystems.

Resource equality

Concepts which strive to create a world where poverty is eradicated, no one goes hungry and everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. This category also rewards ideas that promote responsible consumption and production to ensure sustainable resources for the future.

Resilience, safety & protection of life

Showcasing solutions that support individuals affected by war, crime, and natural disasters, to ideas that help governments and aid organisations rebuild or develop new, resilient infrastructure which supports citizens around the world.

Individual contribution to open geospatial innovation

Celebrating an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to open innovation for good through their use of geospatial data. They could be a convener of collaborators, a solo entrepreneur who’s made a big impact in their field, or a corporate innovator striving to open their business to collaboration and open innovation for good. This award will be judged on the impact the individual has already made across any of the UN SDGs, and how they have encouraged collaboration and open innovation using geospatial data.

The independent and expert judges from the global geospatial industry will be focussed on innovative ideas and solutions, pioneering use of geospatial data to solve challenges, use of technology to implement ideas and the ability to collaborate, use partners and open innovation to achieve goals. 

We are so excited to be launching our first ever Geospatial Innovation Awards. Geospatial data already underpins so many crucial services, it helps us understand our complex world and allows people to make evidence-based decisions that can lead to a better world. But we believe it’s more important than ever to build on this by solving challenges and finding solutions to develop a commercially, environmentally and socially sustainable future for everyone. So we want to recognise and celebrate the amazing and innovative work that goes into this, and its impact on people, places, and our planet. That’s what these awards are about.

Isabelle Chatel de Brancion, Business and Innovation Lead at Geovation

Any individual, start-up or larger organisation working on specific projects in the geospatial industry can apply.

The awards are free to enter and are international, so applications are welcome from anywhere in the world.

To apply visit Geospatial Innovation Awards | Geovation.

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Proptech and Property News in association with Estate Agent Networking.