HM Land Registry recently opened up free availability of data on land and property in England and Wales. Where the registered legal owner is a UK company/ corporate body, or, indeed, an overseas company, data on the company name, country of incorporation, and price paid will be freely available. This is in addition to a range of other data points that will prove themselves incredibly useful to have to hand.
Over 3 million rows of data have been released, split over two databases: Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data and Overseas Companies Ownership Data. Data, of course, is becoming the lifeblood of our innovating world, where systems and processes are hungry for more and more information like this to understand how our landscape is changing and to innovate alongside it.
The release of this data is fuelled by this hunger, and by making access to it free of charge, it removes cost barriers that have restricted the use of data in the past. Understanding the importance of the growing world of PropTech (property technology), HM Land Registry has opened new doors for the growth of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The move demonstrates Government’s massive support for innovation in the property industry, and the digital economy at large. This is just the first of many datasets HM Land Registry will be releasing, promising to become ‘the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data’. It’s also a positive signal that they are following up on the commitments made in their February 2017 whitepaper, “Fixing Our Broken Housing Market”.
Access to these valuable datasets is a big deal for companies like EYESPY360, as well as new innovators rising up through the ranks. Data informs our own work, helping us to ensure we are developing in the direction that the industry and the country needs. It’s a very exciting move by HM Land Registry, and we look forward to seeing its inevitable positive impact on PropTech in particular.
