e4 Strategic, a proptech digital solutions provider, has signed up to the Project 28 Charter, an industry initiative aiming to reduce property transaction times from sale agreed to exchange to 28 days.
The Charter, established by Landmark Information Group, brings together lenders, conveyancers, estate agents and technology providers around eight practical commitments designed to address delays in the transaction process. These include earlier instruction of seller-side conveyancers, greater provision of upfront property information, improved access to digital data, and secure sharing of key documents.
Platform connectivity
e4’s VERSA platform connects parties from mortgage offer through to post-completion via digital workflows, shared case visibility and secure communication. The system was developed in consultation with UK lenders and conveyancers.
Andrew Vaughan, head of customer management at e4 Strategic, said the 28-day target serves a purpose beyond the specific timeframe. “If we start from the assumption that transactions will always take three or four months, we risk designing improvements around the current process rather than questioning why it takes that long in the first place,” he said.
Vaughan noted that delays typically stem from accumulated smaller issues rather than single major problems, citing examples such as duplicate information requests, unanswered queries, and communication gaps between parties. The comments come as half of UK property markets experience longer selling times, adding pressure on the industry to streamline processes.
Industry implications
The initiative reflects broader industry efforts to modernise the conveyancing process, which has faced criticism for lengthy timescales. Vaughan suggested the success metric should focus on whether the industry can reduce wasted time sufficiently that transactions exceeding 100 days become exceptions rather than the norm.
The Project 28 Charter represents one of several industry-led initiatives aimed at improving transaction efficiency in the UK property market, though the 28-day target remains significantly below current average completion times.
