Open Property Data Association
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    UK Industrial Strategy & Smart Data

    OPDA isn't a self-organising industry initiative — it sits inside a government strategy that explicitly names property as a priority Smart Data sector. This page traces the policy backdrop from the UK Industrial Strategy through the DMCC Act 2024 to the OPDA programme.

    UK Industrial Strategy

    The current UK Industrial Strategy identifies data-intensive services as one of the growth-driving sectors. Property data is explicitly called out within that — as one of the highest-friction sectors where Smart Data interventions can deliver measurable GDP impact.

    This is echoed on the legacy smart-property-data-trust-framework page: "The UK Government's Industrial Strategy recognises property as a priority sector for Smart Data innovation. The direction of travel is set."

    Provenance: propdata.org.uk is a legacy developer site that carries OPDA copyright but was not authored or approved by OPDA (OPDA has no editing access); the quotation is recorded for reference, not as an OPDA-authored statement.

    Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC)

    The DMCC Act is the direct legislative authority for the Smart Data Scheme. It empowers the Secretary of State to designate sectors in which customer and business data must be made available for sharing via authorised third parties.

    Three implications for OPDA:

    1. Property is named. The Industrial Strategy + DMCC together create the legal lane for a property Smart Data scheme.
    2. NTS rules withdrawn. DMCC supersedes the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 that NTS material-information guidance relied on — which is why that guidance was withdrawn in late 2025. MHCLG is now consulting on a successor.
    3. Authorised third parties. Smart Data schemes need a regulatory framework for who is authorised to receive and process customer data. The Open Banking model — FCA-authorised TPPs — is the precedent.

    See Legislation & policy for the broader legal frame.

    DBT & DSIT Smart Data Roadmap

    The DBT Smart Data Roadmap (May 2024 → 2025) sets the cross-sector sequencing. Property is sequenced after Open Banking (already live) and ahead of several other sectors. OPDA is the named industry partner for the property sector.

    Other government strands

    StrandLeadRelevance to OPDA
    Property modernisation MHCLG Owns the housing-market modernisation agenda; running a 12-week project on rules-on-data for the property sector
    Material information replacement MHCLG Oct 2025 consultation to replace withdrawn NTS guidance — outcome will reshape nts.json overlay
    HMLR digital strategy HM Land Registry Hosts DPMSG. National LLC register is the public-sector reference implementation
    Digital identity DSIT (DVSTF) OPDA Trust Framework cites DVSTF (the rename of the former DIATF) as a strategic alignment partner for identity-related claims
    Leasehold reform MHCLG Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act 2024 — touches LPE1 data flows; OPDA needs to track secondary legislation

    Reading list

    The primary government and industry source documents — the Smart Data Roadmap, DBT Smart Data Strategy, the Economic Impact Analysis, and the MHCLG consultation response + roadmap — now live on a dedicated page:

    Strategy reading list →

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