With Time to Exchange languishing at around 4 months, the sheer length of time it takes to complete a property transaction is a problem everyone in the industry wants to solve! As conveyancers, the last thing we want is to deal with frustrated clients chasing us constantly to find out what’s holding things up. In fact, a Landmark Information Group survey found that conveyancers were spending a staggering 43% of their time being chased by clients.
Is the answer to reduce timescales as simple as a number? Perhaps…
Conveyancing is a meticulous process and requires the need for high-quality data. It makes sense then, that something as accurate and authoritative as the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) is used in the property transaction process.
The UPRN is a unique reference number assigned to every addressable location in the UK. UPRNs are assigned by local authorities and Ordnance Survey from a range managed by GeoPlace. A UPRN remains with a location from planning, right through to demolition, at which point the unique reference number is retired.
UPRNs have the potential to create property passports or logbooks, linking all property data together. There can be as many as 15 organisations involved in a property transaction and currently, stakeholders work in silos with their databases and systems. The UPRN can connect all these parties and instantaneously provide all the details about the property to anyone involved in property transactions.
“When we think about the housing market, we know that the current buying and selling process is besieged by long and arduous and byzantine processes and inefficiencies. The system even today is far too complicated, is far too long and it needs to be made easier. UPRNs can help change it for the better because of the wealth of data that goes alongside them. With UPRNs, the processes can be streamlined. Information like the number of previous owners, plot size, the boundaries that can all be shared digitally [SIC] all with the touch of a key helping to speed the whole house buying process along.”
Housing Minister | Chris Pincher | Conference 2021 | GeoPlace LLP
Reduces ambiguity: Accuracy is improved as the UPRN reduces any ambiguity in property addresses, especially in complex apartment blocks, those with similar addresses, vague rural locations or those that are named differently in various databases. There's no confusion with UPRNs - conveyancers will know with all certainty which property they are dealing with.
There is a significant issue with landlord certificates and leaseholder deeds not being registered. However, once a UPRN is linked to them, conveyancers, landlords, and property managers can confidently determine if it’s a qualifying lease.
Immediate access to data: UPRNs allow for the instant retrieval of essential property information, including land titles, local authority searches (e.g., LLC, CON29), planning permissions, council tax, and other legal data from various databases. This greatly minimises the waiting time for documents from multiple sources.
Speeds up the process: It currently takes months to move home which is frustrating for the already stressed home buyer who may be relocating due to a relationship breakdown, a bereavement or a child on the way. (Moving house is the seventh most stressful life event.) The UPRN helps to speed up the process because all of the third-party data can be tied to a single reference number. Property solicitors can use UPRNs to retrieve information about properties from various sources including Land Registry details and environmental data. This will reduce the time spent on searching and verifying property details and there will be fewer queries and discrepancies.
With widespread adoption, the UPRN has the potential to provide the property solicitor with instant access to reliable, accurate property information without needing to sift through unclear or outdated records. There will also be less manual cross-referencing. As delays and errors are reduced, UPRNs can contribute to faster completion times.
“Having a digital copy of data – including HM Land Registry details, local land charges, energy performance certificates (EPCs), confirmation of compliance with Building Regulations, planning permissions, council tax assessments, gas and electricity safety certificates and various documents from the seller themselves – as soon as possible can speed up the process, reduce the number of failed transactions, and prevent fraudulent activity.”
-RICS Property Journal - Why we should be encouraging UPRN adoption | Journals | RICS
In Norway, they have digitalised their systems end-to-end, so information can be shared between parties. Property information is gathered more easily, allowing the buyer to have a clear understanding of the property from the outset. This makes vendors less likely to withdraw later if unexpected issues arise. In Norway, you can move in as little as four weeks - saving the economy 10 billion pounds over ten years! Australia also has a single online digital platform so everyone can check the status of the transaction and look up information at any point. As a result, fall throughs are one in ten instead of one in three - and just as with Norway, Australia sees moving processes taking as little as four weeks.
By utilising the UPRN, Land Registry efficiency can be enhanced, allowing stakeholders to identify properties within the same estate through parent, child, and sibling relationships. This will help professionals eliminate backlogs as well.
Property insights: The UPRN can link all historical property data to give a clear picture of any issues or risks. It can connect property data across various systems including Land Registry, local councils and utility providers, providing conveyancers with thorough data at their fingertips. Due diligence is carried out more effectively and swiftly. If all information is linked to the property, you can give home buyers more insights about the property they’re purchasing. It can offer a unified record or digital log of a property such as the number of previous owners and boundaries. When buyers are privy to all relevant information before they buy a property and know its history just like a car logbook, it can help prevent them from pulling out of a sale further down the line.
Aids in innovation: UPRNs are essential for supporting innovations like blockchain for property transactions, where precise and immutable property identification is critical. The UPRN supports machine-readable processes. With more automation, there are fewer mistakes. As we see increased transactions coming through, efficiency is crucial. Automation needs certainty, which the UPRN provides. When systems communicate using the same language, everything becomes simpler. This can help move the process along quicker.
A more streamlined process: UPRNs can improve the interoperability of separate data sets. With the use of UPRNs, transactions should be smoother. Ultimately, the UPRN provides consistency across systems - there is less administration and more automation.
Reduces mistakes: It minimises the risk of errors in crucial stages like title searches, compliance checks and legal documentation. Conveyancers can track historical ownership, planning permissions, or previous legal disputes more easily. No stone will be left unturned when it comes to due diligence. This can help avoid costly mistakes or delays that might arise from ambiguous property details or missing information.
Quicker mortgage approvals: Mortgage providers such as Nationwide utilise UPRNs to automate the mortgage approval process, allowing them to access authoritative property information within seconds. This speeds up loan approvals and ensures that buyers can move forward without unnecessary delays.
Transparency and trust: With clear and consistent property data, buyers and sellers have more confidence in the process, leading to smoother transactions and fewer disputes.
“For conveyancers - the UPRN would provide the opportunity to tie different property data sets together and pass them on as a package to consumers and lenders. Instant access to data would speed up the process, making it smoother and more transparent. Property logbooks are gaining traction and with the UPRN at the heart of these, will give buyers full oversight of what they are buying and allow them to shortlist properties they want to view quickly and easily.”
-IRPM White Paper – The UPRN: What’s in a Number?
One in three homes fall through before they reach completion. The UPRN can provide all information upfront to prevent this from happening further down the line.
“Estate agents and conveyancers lose around 4 million working days and a billion pounds each year as a result of failed transactions.”
Digitalising the Property Market | GeoPlace LLP
Prevents fraud:
Identity standards are crucial, as they help protect against cyber and property fraud. The UPRN can also be linked to the SDLT form (although this is currently optional). When the UPRN is present, it allows for the identification of the National Insurance number, company registration number and the directors of the company. This, in turn, reveals how many properties are owned by a single individual and identifies the true owner of each property.
“The UPRN plays a crucial role in modernising and streamlining the home buying and selling process by connecting data and automating tasks that should be digital, reducing manual intervention and delays. As a machine-readable identifier, the UPRN eliminates confusion caused by inconsistent address descriptions, providing certainty in property identification. When universally adopted as a core reference, information such as title numbers, land charge searches, planning data, and tax details can be instantly retrieved. Additionally, each UPRN is linked to precise X, Y coordinates, enabling automated queries related to location-specific factors such as school proximity, property prices, and risk assessments like floods or fires.”
-Gayle Gander, Head of Marketing at Geoplace
Following a previous open letter in 2021, a further open letter was sent to the Housing Minister on 16th October 2024 by a coalition of leading organisations in the UK property sector. They have called on the Government to take decisive action in adopting and implementing the UPRN throughout the residential property market. The signatories emphasise the pivotal role the UPRN can play in transforming the property market, boosting transparency, increasing efficiency, and delivering substantial benefits to both the public and private sectors, as well as consumers. Increased transactions will generate greater immediate commercial benefits through Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and contribute to broader economic gains, given the strong connection between the housing market and overall consumer activity at the macro level. The letter calls to raise the barriers to adoption such as the cost.
The following industry and professional bodies that have called for wide UPRN adoption include:
The UPRN is already being utilised in various sectors, including the Department of Work and Pensions, EPCs, planning data, and by utilities, local authorities, HMLR, NHS, VOA, and Historic England. As mentioned, Nationwide use the UPRN to automate mortgage approvals in seconds. It locks onto the UPRN and its coordinates to retrieve data from multiple sources. The goal is to get external agencies such as HM Land Registry to further accelerate the use of the UPRN. In a similar vein, the National Land Information Service (NLIS) seeks to facilitate government-supported official searches using this approach, with organisations such as the Coal Authority already participating. Prominent commercial conveyancing data providers and platforms like Zoopla and Rightmove have embraced UPRNs to boost automation and enhance service efficiency. Stuart Telfer of Groundsure states that:
“We use the UPRN to link databases and find this particularly useful when searching a database on its location alone is not viable. Efficiently matching databases on multi-unit buildings (e.g. block of flats with ground floor retail) can be tricky at the moment. However, consistent provision of UPRN throughout the property transaction process could improve data accuracy and negate the end for address matching approaches.”
Adoption of the UPRN in many industries is hindered by the issue of cost. Whilst the public sector can access the UPRN for free, the private sector would need to pay. Find My Address does allow you to perform up to 10 free searches a day to discover the UPRN but this limitation does hinder widespread adoption. The main route for conveyancers to access UPRNs is via Ordnance Survey as UPRNs are included in their AddressBase® and OpenData products. You can usually locate the UPRN from the EPC. However, because UPRN’s were not always mandatory, some certificates lack this information. So, if it isn’t present on the EPC, you would need the OS AddressBase product suite. The price list is available here.
The UPRN is not intended to replace or compete with the title number. Both serve a different purpose and need to exist separately. The title number is fundamental to the Land Registry and title registration. However, not all land in the UK is registered, meaning some properties don’t have a title number. Additionally, some properties may have multiple title numbers, or a title number may cover more than one UPRN.
The UPRN is unique and publicly accessible, while the title number relates to ownership and is not open data. As a numerical identifier, UPRNs can be easily embedded in databases and connected to a wide range of information, as many organisations use them. In contrast, title numbers are primarily for use by conveyancers and the Land Registry.
Maria Harris, chair of OPDA, said: "The home buying process remains overly complex and fragmented, leaving buyers facing delays, uncertainty, and a lack of trust in the system. Reform is long overdue, and UPRNs offer a significant opportunity to transform this process. By providing a single, definitive reference for every property, UPRNs can eliminate ambiguity, streamline communication, and ensure property data is consistent and accessible across all stakeholders - from conveyancers and lenders to estate agents and buyers.
At OPDA, we’re focused on creating open standards that enable trustable, shareable property data. Integrating UPRNs into these frameworks is the logical next step for the conveyancing industry. UPRNs act as the digital thread tying together everything from title numbers and planning permissions to legal searches and compliance records. For conveyancers, this means faster access to accurate, reliable data, reducing the need for manual cross-referencing and mitigating the risk of errors or delays.
We’ve already seen how open property data can deliver tangible results, with transaction times slashed by weeks through digital property packs. Widespread adoption of UPRNs will further bridge the gaps between siloed systems, delivering a faster, more transparent, and customer-centric homebuying process. The tools for change are here - it’s time to put them to work."
As locating the property is the first port of call for a conveyancer, the UPRN is helpful as it is a master location reference. The adoption of UPRNs in conveyancing promises to enhance both the efficiency and accuracy of property transactions, creating a smoother, faster experience for everyone involved.
The UPRN can help create a property logbook. By aggregating as much information as possible as early as possible, this may be one of the only ways to make conveyancing quicker, more efficient and more accurate.
Whilst most conveyancers are aware of the UPRN, the problem is adoption. The title number is the bread-and-butter reference point for a property solicitor. Can the UPRN work side-by-side with this?
The UPRN needs to be embedded in the property transaction process so that everyone uses the same common denominator. We need to take learnings from the international success of digitalising data and how this has undisputedly sped up moving home.
Conveyancing market expert TwentyConvey is part of the TwentyCi group. We advocate for the use of the UPRN and, in fact, use this in our address cleansing tool to ensure accuracy.