Results from a MHCLG 2018 report highlights that more than 300,000 property transactions collapse every year due to broken chains and buyers changing their mind, costing affected sellers on average £2.7K with a total cost to the market of £400 million. The 2018 MHCLG Call for Evidence sought input from the sector which is part of a wide-ranging body of work government is undertaking to improve the housing sector. The Government's overarching view being that the home buying and selling process in England & Wales is not fit for purpose, as a quarter of house sales fall through each year. Combined with failed property transactions are issues and barriers to supporting the recovery of the housing market. The Government recently introduced reduced rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) which applies to residential properties purchased between 8 July 2020 until 31 March 2021 inclusive. Due to social distancing, continued restrictions on the number of staff being able to work within offices, both together and to meet with clients, this is causing undue delays and friction into the home buying and selling process for solicitors and conveyancers. Digital identity fraud has increased since March 2020, when Covid19 lock downs were introduced, as more solicitors work from home without the security standards and digital identity checking capabilities in place. The government is committed to enabling a digital identity system fit for the UK's growing digital economy. "It is clear that there is a need and an expectation for the government to make it easier for people to use digital identities quickly, safely and securely and we are committed to enabling this." Cabinet Office Minister Julia Lopez 1/9/20\. This project will seek to determine and agreed digital identity standards for the home buying and selling process for a client seeking to sell their property and linking that person/identity to a home that they are selling/buying. This is the crux of the problem for the legal sector, as well as tackling fraud for mortgage lenders. Putting the customer at the centre of the process and standardising and creating portability of the identity verification of the parties to reduce the risk of identity and property fraud and money laundering will be one of the many outputs from this project. This project is looking to address some of the issues around the house buying and selling process around land and property information, connecting a customer to a property and verifying the identity of both buyer and seller to an assured identity standard. Further enquiry will include: o The need for a mechanism to share information to speed up the home buying and selling process built around supporting greater digital transactions. o The need to have privacy and consent at the centre o A digital identity trust framework supporting the home buying and selling process o Make is easier for people to prove their identity online so transactions quicken o How to build trust into the system and trust in the information as well as reliance

Etive needed to design and develop more unique and higher security protocols and sets of processes and procedures. TSB funding enabled Etive to secure external expertise to deign and develop appropriate security standards improving business standards and efficiencies.