A coalition of trade and representative bodies, including The Conveyancing Association, has launched the sixth version of the BASPI – the Buyer’s and Seller’s Property Information dataset – in a continued effort to enhance transparency and reduce delays in the homebuying process.
The BASPI, developed by the Upfront Information Working Group of the Home Buying and Selling Council (HBSC), serves as a standardised ‘single source of truth’ for property data.
It is designed to include all the key details that must be disclosed when a property is brought to market.
The dataset is split into two sections: Part A includes material information required under regulations, such as disputes, alterations, fixtures, utilities, insurance, boundaries, and any other issues affecting the property.
Part B addresses legal details necessary for the conveyancing process, including ownership, energy data, guarantees, occupiers, and moving arrangements.
NEW QUESTIONS
The latest update includes new questions on subjects such as electric vehicle charging points, flat roofs, energy-efficiency retrofits, and planning permissions and heating systems—reflecting a growing demand for clarity around sustainability and modern property features.
The organisations behind BASPI have committed to working with ‘proptech’ firms to produce outputs based on the BASPI schema. This is intended to help identify what information is deemed material for consumers, and to signpost buyers to the appropriate advisers—whether legal, surveying, financial, or environmental.
INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
Beth Rudolf, director of delivery at The Conveyancing Association, said the latest iteration is the result of ongoing industry collaboration.
She explained: “Every year we conduct a full review and industry consultation to ensure the BASPI is up to date and to reflect any changes in law, and ongoing updates that may be required.
“This is now the sixth iteration of the dataset and there are some minor tweaks to existing questions, as well as a small number of new ones.”
DIGITISING HOMEBUYING
And she added: “The government’s recent commitment to digitalise the home buying and selling process further is a positive next step. We hope the PropTech sector will then be able to complete much more of the BASPI using the digitalised authority data.
“This will mean that they can produce, as the output of the BAPSI, the Material Information needed by estate agents to comply with the law and direct potential buyers to the appropriate advisers relevant to the Material Information.
“While this could be the conveyancer for matters of a legal nature, surveyors for condition, or the financial adviser, some issues will point the potential buyer to specialist advisers such as the International Property Flood Resilience Association or the Environment Agency.
“We hope this means conveyancers will be reassured their client has no expectation they will receive advice from them on matters for which they do not have the expertise and, as a result, reduce the scope creep firms have been trying to deal with.
“The DPMSG is working with all sectors to identify what each has the expertise to advise on. This should make life easier for conveyancing firms as they will only be advising on the legal aspects revealed by the Title and the search results, and on how to protect the reliance on the information given by the seller during the transaction.”
The updated BASPI can be downloaded from the Conveyancing Association website HERE.
