Departments & bodies
The UK government entities that authorise, fund, run, and regulate the Smart Property Data initiative. Each plays a different role in the stack — knowing who owns what shapes how PDTF artefacts get adopted.
Ownership map
Housing, Communities & Local Government
policy lead"]:::policy DSIT["DSIT
Science, Innovation & Technology
Smart Data scheme + DIATF"]:::policy DBT["DBT
Business & Trade
Smart Data Challenge sponsor"]:::policy HMLR["HMLR
HM Land Registry
operational lead, hosts DPMSG"]:::ops RPF["RPF
Regulators' Pioneer Fund
funds the Sandbox"]:::ops NTS["NTSELAT
National Trading Standards Estate & Letting
material information rules"]:::regulator FCA["FCA
Financial Conduct Authority
Smart Data scheme regulator"]:::regulator ICO["ICO
Information Commissioner's Office
data protection regulator"]:::regulator MHCLG --> HMLR DSIT --> RPF DSIT --> NTS MHCLG --> NTS
MHCLG — Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Policy lead for housing and property. Successor to DLUHC (and earlier MHCLG). Owns the leasehold reform agenda and the homebuying-modernisation programme.
Live workstreams as of May 2026:
- 12-week project to design agreed rules on data for the property sector — newly announced; deliverables feed into PDTF and DPMSG.
- Oct 2025 consultation on material-information replacement guidance — successor to the withdrawn NTS rules. Consultation page captured at
source/08-external-references/uk-government/material-information-in-property-listings-consultation.html. - Right to Manage secondary legislation under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 — in force from 3 March 2026.
Minister responsible: Matthew Pennycook, Housing and Planning Minister.
DSIT — Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Owns the cross-sector Smart Data Scheme under the DMCC Act 2024. Administers the Regulators' Pioneer Fund (RPF) that funds the Trust Framework Sandbox. Hosts the Smart Data Council (cross-sector advisory body).
Also owns DIATF — the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework — which PDTF cites as a strategic alignment partner.
DBT — Department for Business and Trade
Published the Smart Data Roadmap (May 2024 → 2025). Sponsored the Smart Data Challenge, in which the Moverly + OPDA prototype won an SDCP Innovators prize (Vimeo video referenced in our archive).
- Smart Data Roadmap PDF:
source/06-research/reports-third-party/smart-data-roadmap-action-the-government-is-taking-in-2024-to-2025.pdf - SDC Innovators video transcript:
source/05-engagement/videos-youtube/embedded/vimeo_1140770692.txt
HMLR — HM Land Registry
Operational lead. Formed DPMSG on 1 August 2023. Owns the digital Local Land Charges programme — 200+ local authorities have migrated to a national HMLR-run register, with quarterly "gold status" ratings for register quality.
Three YouTube videos in our archive explain HMLR's role:
- "Creating a national Local Land Charges Register" (1:05)
- "Local land charges: How the Data Analysis Dashboard tool works" (5:15)
- "Maintain LLC register" (6:25)
All in source/05-engagement/videos-youtube/embedded/.
NTS — National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT)
Previously owned the Material Information rules for property listings (Sales v1.0 + Lettings v1.0 + Quick Guides for Agents / Sellers / Buyers). These rules were withdrawn in late 2025 after the DMCC Act 2024 superseded the Consumer Protection regs they relied on.
Replacement guidance is being prepared by MHCLG (Oct 2025 consultation). OPDA's
nts.json schema overlay implements the now-withdrawn rules and will
need updating once MHCLG publishes successor guidance.
Full local archive at source/08-external-references/nts/ — the Sales
and Lettings PDFs were recovered from The Property Institute's mirror after NTS
took them down.
Regulators in the ecosystem
| Regulator | What they regulate | Relevance to PDTF |
|---|---|---|
| FCA | Authorised third parties under Smart Data schemes (model from Open Banking). | Will likely regulate the conformance/certification regime for the property Smart Data scheme. |
| ICO | Data protection under UK GDPR / DPA 2018. | Data Sharing Code of Practice; data subject rights; controllerprocessor agreements between PDTF participants. |
| SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) | Solicitors involved in conveyancing. | DPMSG founding member; rules on digital signing, ID verification. |
| CLC (Council for Licensed Conveyancers) | Licensed conveyancers. | Sandbox delivery partner alongside OPDA + Raidiam. |
| RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) | Surveyors and property professionals. | DPMSG founding member; standards for property valuation data. |
| CILEx Regulation | Chartered Legal Executives. | DPMSG founding member. |
Non-governmental coordinating bodies
- UK Finance — trade association for banking and finance. DPMSG founding member. Voice of mortgage lenders.
- BSA — Building Societies Association. DPMSG founding member.
- The Property Institute (TPI) — industry body for property managers; mirroring NTS material information PDFs after withdrawal.
- HousingLIN — Housing Learning Improvement Network; mirrors NTS Quick Guides.
- COPSO — Council of Property Search Organisations. DPMSG founding member.
- Propertymark — UK property agents membership body. DPMSG founding member.
- Conveyancing Association + Society of Licensed Conveyancers — DPMSG founding members.