Digital conveyancing is rapidly approaching

There is mounting pressure on the government from several bodies to implement digital conveyancing. Technology offers solutions to reduce the timeline of conveyancing, saving buyers and sellers lots of money in third party fees.

Commons Select Committee

Last month, giving evidence to the Commons Select Committee, the chair of the Open Property Data Association had some forceful points to make. Run by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Committee was seeking input as to whether the consumer experience of home buying and selling could be improved. It also sought to investigate whether any such improvement should take the form of voluntary initiatives, or if legislation would be necessary.

Digital Conveyancing

Maria Harris, OPDA Chair, said the entire process of home buying and selling should be digitised. Evidence she supplied to the Committee demonstrated a reduction in timescale from acceptance of offer on a property through mortgage application to exchange of contracts to just 15 days, when using the OPDA’s data standard for digital property packs. Further, the evidence showed ‘…zero fall throughs, zero fraud, a much better customer experience and more certainty around the moving date.’ This is a much short time frame compared to the current average time frame of 16 weeks. 

Harris further went on to say that this solution removed ‘hundreds of hours’ from the process, citing that the ‘waste of time is not there’.

Another body, the Foundation for International Blockchain Real Estate expertise is also pushing for change. They recognise that blockchain offers the ability to automate the process through smart contracts. Digital conveyancing through blockchain will dramatically speed up conveyancing in the UK.

Improved Collaboration

CEO of the Home Buying and Selling Group Kate Faulkner also gave evidence to the Commons Select Committee. She discussed the complexity of the process, citing a list of 300 things the buyer, lender or removal company may need to know before agreeing to a house purchase offer. ‘We have fantastic runners in each sector, but we’re not good at passing that baton to each other’, she said. Harris added that it was ‘…not helpful that all these batons are based on paper or forms, and that they are all slightly different and need slightly different things.’

With less than one percent of property information currently available digitally, Harris said that only with a collective move from the whole market could full digitisation be achieved within three years.

Smart Contracts

At Esper Wealth we have been talking about the benefits of smart contracts on real estate since 2022. For people unfamiliar with smart contracts the article is worth a read.

Currently, we are developing contracts that allow buyers to purchase property in days, not months, with lower third-party costs. We believe this technology is going to be a game changer. This is why we are currently raising funds from private investors.

Property Log Books

In the longer term we aspire to have log books for property in the same way you do for cars. Sellers can open up this data to prospective buyers before entering into a smart contract that will expedite the conveyancing process. 

If you would like to know more about our exciting investment option, visit our designated investor website Esper Investments.