Lloyds Banking Group, Connells Group & LMS Partner to Launch Fully Digital Homebuyer Service

Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, Connells Group, the UK’s leading estate agency and LMS, the UK’s leading provider of conveyancing, are partnering to launch a fully digital homebuying service today, set to reshape the way homes are bought and sold across England and Wales.  

It is widely recognised that the current homebuying process is slow, fragmented and repetitive with an  average time to completion of five months. The digital homebuyer service has been developed to  eliminate the points of frustration and cut weeks of waiting and uncertainty from the process. 

The partnership marks the first phase of a revolutionary national network of agents, lenders, conveyancers and surveyors, that will deliver a live end-to-end digitally enabled home sale and purchase  journey that changes the sequence and timing of key steps in the property transaction. 

What problems is the digital homebuying service designed to  solve? 

The current homebuying process is well known for creating unnecessary friction through multiple steps,  duplicated checks and long wait times – the majority of the 1.2m yearly homebuyers say buying a home  is the most stressful experience (see Editor’s Notes). On average it takes over 5 months to complete a  purchase (hoa.org.uk) and around one in four transactions collapse during the process (gov.uk).  

Issues customers commonly raise about the homebuying process include: 

• Being asked to provide the same information multiple times to different parties, 
• Late discovery of issues (searches, title, source of funds) that cause delays or the transaction to  fall‑through, 
• Long periods of uncertainty with poor communication and transparency on progress, and • Manual paper‑based or email‑driven processes that increase stress and require rework. 

The digital homebuying service aims to tackle these issues by moving critical checks and information  earlier in the process and sharing them digitally between relevant parties using LMS’s National Property Transaction Network (NPTN), a shared data-exchange platform. 

How will the digital homebuying service improve the experience  for customers? 

The service is built to eliminate the points of frustration and failure that make moving home stressful and  cut weeks of waiting and uncertainty from the process. Compared to today’s journey, customers should  benefit from a slicker, quicker, clearer, simpler process: 

• Sellers will become “digital sale ready” earlier, with property, ID and material information captured  up front by Moverly. 
• Source of funds checks by Armalytix, made earlier in the process – confirming buyers’ ability to buy  sooner – the foundations of the transaction.  
• Fewer steps to complete, for example, ID verification required once, removing repetitive requests  for them later. 
• Searches provided with the property listing – minimising late surprises. 
• Conveyancer has access to key information (ID, searches, source of funds), reducing paperwork  and speeding up conveyancing. 
• Customers get a smoother journey between parties, fewer questions, less chasing and less worry. 

What does the digital homebuying service involve?

The service runs on residential sale and purchase transactions within England and Wales, involving  Connells branches, LMS‑panel conveyancers, and Lloyds Banking Group as the lender.  

Using LMS’s NPTN, property, identity, and financial information can be captured once and then reused  by all parties involved in the transaction, the service brings together estate agents, brokers,  conveyancers, and lenders earlier in the process. The network is already operational and built on agreed  standards aligned to the Property Data Trust Framework (PDTF), enabling adoption at scale. 

The service is supported by Moverly, Novus Strategy, Credas, TM Group and Armalytix, the market leading financial intelligence provider, and aims to replace fragmented, siloed information sharing with a  live, secure network that allows trusted data to move easily but securely across the transaction. 

Housing Secretary, Steve Reed said: “Too many people who have bought or sold a home will know this feeling all too well – months of waiting,  chasing and worrying, with sales liable to fall through at any moment. It can quickly become a living nightmare. 

“It doesn’t need to be this difficult and that is why we have set out bold proposals to shakeup the home  buying and selling process. 

“I’m pleased to see Lloyds Banking Group, Connells Group and LMS showing what’s possible by getting  the right information to the right people earlier, cutting the delays and uncertainty that make moving  home so stressful.”

Andrew Asaam, Homes Director, Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We are excited to be launching the first end-to-end digital homebuying service with our partners  Connells and LMS. The process of buying or selling your home is too stressful, too slow, too laborious,  and often collapses through no fault of your own. With this new digital service, we aim to cut the stress,  increase the speed, reduce the workload for customers and limit the number of transactions that fall  through. This could change the way we buy and sell homes.” 

Chris Rosindale, Chief Operating Officer at Connells Group, said: “Society needs a faster, more reliable, fully digitised housing transaction system that increases certainty,  reduces fall-throughs and supports housing mobility. We believe in reform that makes the system faster,  more transparent and more reliable and are excited to be part of transformation in the sector.” 

Nick Chadbourne, CEO at LMS, said:  “The industry has spent years diagnosing the problem. NPTN is infrastructure that delivers the solution.  This initiative signals a serious move away from siloed processes and toward genuine market-wide  reform.”