Chain portal & cross-agency sharing
Give solicitors, buyers, and vendors a private view of the chain — and let milestone progress sync automatically between agencies, without sharing confidential data.
What this does
The chain portal gives external parties — solicitors, buyers, vendors, other agents — a secure, read-only view of the chain they are part of. Solicitors can also tick milestones and add notes, keeping the whole chain in sync without email threads. When the same property appears in two different agencies' chains, milestone completions sync automatically between them.
Inviting people to the portal
Anyone whose email address is recorded on a chain link can be invited to the portal. This includes:
- The buyer's solicitor and vendor's solicitor
- The buyer and vendor directly
- The agent at the other agency (if one is named)
To send an invitation, open the chain link card, ensure their email is entered in the correct field, then click the invite button next to their role. XchangeHero sends them a magic link by email — no password required.
Magic links expire after 7 days
If the invitee doesn't click within 7 days, you can resend the invite from the same button. Once they've logged in once, their access is permanent until you remove their email from the link.
Who can see and do what
Access is determined by the role the person holds on the chain link. The golden rule: someone can only access the portal if their email was explicitly entered onto one of the chain links. There is no way to browse or guess your way in.
| Role | Chain view | Milestones | Warnings | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your team (agents) | Full — all links | ✓ | ✓ | Full access |
| Buyer's solicitor | Full chain | SOL ONLY | ✓ | Add + edit own notes |
| Vendor's solicitor | Full chain | SOL ONLY | ✓ | Add + edit own notes |
| Buyer | Full chain | — | — | Edit own notes only |
| Vendor | Full chain | — | — | Edit own notes only |
| Other agent | Full chain | — | — | Edit own notes only |
“Full chain” means every link in the chain — above and below your listing — so solicitors understand the whole transaction, not just one property.
Solicitors can
- ✓Tick and un-tick milestones
- ✓Add warnings (e.g. "mortgage delayed")
- ✓Resolve warnings they raised
- ✓Add shared notes
Buyers & vendors can
- ✓View the full chain
- ✓See milestone progress
- ✓Read shared notes and warnings
- ✓Edit their own notes
Revoking access
Remove the person's email from the chain link field. Their access is revoked immediately — they will be redirected if they attempt to open the portal. You do not need to notify XchangeHero or take any other action.
How cross-agency milestone sharing works
A property sale often involves two agencies at once. For example, Agency A is selling 42 Oak Road on behalf of their vendor. Agency B is representing the buyer of the same property, and Alice the solicitor appears on both chain links.
XchangeHero detects this automatically. When a milestone is ticked on Agency A's chain, it is also marked complete on Agency B's matching link — without either agency having to tell the other. The solicitor only has to update progress once.
How the system finds a match
Two chain links are treated as the same property only when both conditions are met:
- They share at least one email address (solicitor, buyer, vendor, or agent)
- Their property addresses match — even if one says “Road” and the other says “Rd”, or the casing differs
Both conditions must be true. A shared solicitor email alone isn't enough — the address must also match. This prevents milestones being shared across two different properties that happen to use the same solicitor.
What is and isn't shared
Shared across agencies: milestone completion status and the date it was completed.
Never shared: names, phone numbers, notes, warnings, emails, prices, or any other detail. Only milestone ticks cross agency boundaries.
Sync is automatic
Milestone completions propagate within about a minute of being ticked. No manual step is needed on either side.
You stay in control
If you un-tick a milestone that was synced in, XchangeHero locks it — the sync engine will not re-apply it automatically.
Data protection
Two-layer access control
Every portal request is checked at the application level first (clear error if denied) and then at the database level independently. Both must pass. A bug in one layer cannot expose data.
Email-gated access
Portal users can only reach chains where their email is explicitly recorded. There is no browsing, guessing, or sharing of links across chains.
Agency data never crosses
Only milestone status syncs between agencies. Names, notes, warnings, prices, and contact details remain entirely private to each agency.
All data encrypted
Data in transit uses HTTPS (TLS 1.3). Data at rest is encrypted at the database level. Magic links are single-use for first login.
Frequently asked questions
Can a solicitor see my other listings or contacts?
No. Portal users can only see chain links where their email address appears. Nothing else in your XchangeHero account — contacts, listings, notes, pricing, inbox — is visible to them.
What happens if the wrong person opens the invite link?
The link is tied to a specific email address. Even if someone forwards the link, the recipient still needs to verify via that email inbox before they can log in. Someone without access to the mailbox cannot complete the verification.
Will portal users see private notes my team leaves on the chain?
No. Notes added by your agents via the internal chain view are not shown in the portal. Only the Shared Notes section — which both agents and solicitors can write to — is visible to portal users.
What if a milestone is ticked by mistake at another agency?
Simply un-tick it on your chain. XchangeHero will respect your decision and will not re-sync that milestone from the other agency.
How quickly do synced milestones appear?
Within approximately one minute. The sync runs continuously in the background.
Can I stop cross-agency syncing for a specific link?
Yes. Un-tick a synced milestone and it will be locked on your side. To prevent any future sync for a link entirely, you can remove the shared email addresses — without those, no match is possible.