Digital Property Logbooks: What's Law, What's Planned and When

As of October 2026, no law in the UK requires anyone to keep a digital property logbook, whether they're buying, selling, building or letting. What has changed is the plan. In its home buying and selling reform roadmap, published on 19 June 2026, the government said it will legislate to make digital property logbooks and sales packs a requirement for all property transactions "when parliamentary time allows". It set no date. No bill has been put before Parliament.

This guide separates what is law today from what is announced, what is still to be consulted on and what the industry is doing on its own, with every date we could check. For what a home logbook is and how to keep one, see our home logbook guide.

The reforms are aimed at England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own system built around the Home Report, so the government doesn't expect these measures to apply there.

Are digital property logbooks becoming mandatory in the UK?

Not yet. Nor is there a fixed date for it.

The roadmap's words are that the government "will legislate to make both digital property logbooks and sales packs a requirement for all property transactions when parliamentary time allows". It puts that in a column headed "Future (by end of Parliament)". This Parliament first met in July 2024 and, under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, must end by July 2029 at the latest. That is the outside edge of the government's own aim, not a deadline anyone is bound by. A bill would have to pass both Houses and be brought into force first; when we checked on 5 October 2026, none had been introduced.

Two things could come sooner:

• Government home ownership schemes. The roadmap says that from 2027 the government will consider which of its own schemes should require logbooks and sales packs. Its summary table says that requirement "will start in 2027". No scheme has been named.
• Industry practice. The government says nothing stops firms offering logbooks and packs now. It plans to encourage them through an advisory Home Buying and Selling Charter for property professionals in 2027 to 2028.

So it's fair to say logbooks are planned to become standard. It isn't accurate to say they are required, or that they will be from a particular date.

What the government means by a logbook and a sales pack

The roadmap uses two terms. They aren't the same thing.

• Digital property logbook. In the roadmap's words, "online secure records of information specific to a property owned by the homeowner". It belongs to the owner, builds up over time and, the government notes, has "a wider role than just buying and selling".
• Sales pack. A standardised set of information "prepared before a property is listed, including property search and condition report results". The seller keeps overall responsibility for it, with professionals gathering and checking their parts: conveyancers the legal and title information, surveyors the condition information.

The roadmap's draft list of what a sales pack would contain, which it says is subject to change: tenure, council tax band, EPC rating, property type, title information and documents, seller ID verification, leasehold and estate charges, building safety information, standard search results, a property questionnaire, a condition report suited to the home's age and type, accessibility information, chain status and a floor plan.

When it legislates, the government says it will set the minimum data both must contain, lined up with each other. Put simply, the pack is what buyers need for one sale and the logbook is the owner's lasting record that a pack can draw on.

The role logbooks may play in a sale

The government's case starts with delay. Its roadmap says a purchase takes around 120 days on average once an offer is accepted and that around one in three transactions falls through, often because information turns up late. Its answer comes in stages:

1. Better listings now. Estate agents already have a legal duty not to leave material information out of a listing. The government has promised guidance on what that means in practice.
2. Sales packs before listing. Later, legislation would require the key information, including searches and a condition report, to be ready before a home goes on the market.
3. Earlier commitment after that. Once sales packs are embedded, the government plans binding conditional contracts, which would make a sale binding much earlier (for example once an offer is accepted), with a financial penalty for pulling out without a valid reason. It says this won't come into effect until sales packs are embedded.
4. Digital groundwork underneath. Digital ID checks, electronic signatures, shared data standards and HM Land Registry's plan for a fully digital, map-based title register by 2035.

Logbooks run through all four. The roadmap says they will give buyers and sellers "easier access to the property information you need". It wants their data drawn from trusted sources: title information from HM Land Registry, for example, rather than retyped by hand.

What this means for an individual homeowner hasn't been worked out: what a logbook must contain, who provides one, how it passes to the next owner and who pays are all open. The notes behind the government's estimate of a £650 average saving for first-time buyers say it already allows for new costs buyers will face, giving buying logbooks as an example. Nothing more specific about cost has been published.

Timeline and key dates

Future dates are the government's own plans and can move. We last checked each of them on 5 October 2026.

Law, policy, consultation and industry: who is doing what

In force today

• Material information. Under section 227 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, in force since 6 April 2025, a business that leaves out information the average consumer needs to make an informed decision commits a misleading omission. In a home sale that duty falls on the estate agent.
• EPCs. In England and Wales you must order an EPC before you market a home for sale. It's valid for ten years.
• Nothing about logbooks. No law requires one.

Announced, not law

The roadmap's commitments: sales packs before listing, binding conditional contracts once packs are embedded, logbooks and packs as standard in every sale, the requirement in government schemes, the Code of Practice for agents and the guidance on listings.

Consultation: closed and still to come

The two 2025 consultations have closed. Still to come, according to the roadmap: consultations on mandatory qualifications for estate and letting agents, on the leasehold and estate sales information rules (using powers in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to cap fees and turnaround times) and on a smart data scheme for property, after a call for evidence.

Industry, on its own initiative

• Law Society forms. The TA6, TA7 and TA10 that sellers fill in are the Law Society's, not the government's. Using the current editions is a rule of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme, not of statute.
• The Open Property Data Association (OPDA). A not-for-profit industry body developing shared standards for property data, including the Property Data Trust Framework, so information can move between systems with a record of where it came from. The roadmap names OPDA's testing of its framework.
• The Residential Logbook Association (RLBA). A trade association for logbook providers. The roadmap says the government's work on data standards will be informed by the RLBA's proof of concept, which tests how HM Land Registry data can be reached from within logbooks. homehogs is an associate member of the RLBA.
• The Digital Property Market Steering Group. Formed in 2023 as a collaboration between industry and government, it's the group the roadmap will work through on its digital plans.

Expected, but not decided

What a logbook must contain, who provides it, how it passes between owners, how secure it must be and who pays. On security, the roadmap says the government will work with bodies including the Law Society and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers towards an agreed standard.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

• Wales and Northern Ireland. The government anticipates that most of the roadmap's measures will apply here as well as in England. The final reach of each will be decided case by case and, for anything needing legislation, through Parliament.
• Scotland. The government doesn't expect these measures to apply, because Scotland already has its own framework. A seller there must have a Home Report before marketing: a survey with a valuation, a property questionnaire and an energy report including the EPC. Trading standards guidance says it must be no more than 12 weeks old when the home goes on the market. A seller or agent must provide it within nine days of a buyer asking.
• Across the UK. The consumer protection rules in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 apply in all four nations, so an estate agent's duty on material information isn't limited to England.

What homeowners can do now

There's nothing to register, buy or file. What helps is having the papers a sale already asks for in one place, because that's what any logbook or sales pack will be built from.

1. Download your title register and title plan from HM Land Registry, £7 each online in England and Wales. They show what you own, any rights of way and any covenants.
2. Check your EPC on the GOV.UK register or with our EPC checker. An EPC lasts ten years; if yours will have run out by the time you sell, you'll need a new one. Here's what your EPC tells you.
3. Gather certificates for past work: building regulations completion certificates, window certificates (FENSA, CERTASS or similar), electrical certificates and gas installation certificates. Many can be replaced if they're missing; how to prove work was done on your home explains how.
4. Keep guarantees and warranties that pass to a buyer: damp proofing, roofing, a new build warranty.
5. Start a dated record of servicing and repairs from today. If you're starting with nothing, here's how to build your home's service history from scratch.
6. If you're a leaseholder, keep the lease, recent service charge accounts and ground rent demands.
7. If you plan to sell in the next year or so, talk to a conveyancer early. In its 2025 consultation on material information, the government said it thinks it is good practice for sellers to instruct their conveyancer before a home is listed.

For what a conveyancer asks for today, see what documents you need to sell a house.

What to start keeping

Whatever form the law finally takes, these are the records a sale draws on. Most homes have some of them already, usually in more than one place. We've all got that drawer.

homehogs is one way to keep these together: it holds each document against the room, appliance or job it proves, reminds you before services and guarantees fall due and shows on the home's logbook page what's recorded and what's still missing. A well-kept folder does much of the same job; the point is to keep it current.

Sources

• MHCLG: Home buying and selling reform roadmap (19 June 2026)
• MHCLG: Homebuying shake-up press release (18 June 2026)
• MHCLG: Home buying and selling reform consultation (6 October to 29 December 2025)
• MHCLG: Material information in property listings consultation
• legislation.gov.uk: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, section 227
• legislation.gov.uk: Home Information Pack (Suspension) Order 2010
• legislation.gov.uk: Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, section 4
• National Trading Standards: Part A material information guidance (12 July 2022)
• The Law Society: TA6 Property information form (6th edition)
• GOV.UK: Energy Performance Certificates when selling
• GOV.UK: Get information about property and land
• mygov.scot: Home Report
• Open Property Data Association: Smart Property Data Trust Framework
• Residential Logbook Association: About

Last fact-checked 5 October 2026.