HM Land Registry
A digital future fit for conveyancing
‘At HM Land Registry, we are committed to becoming ‘the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data’’, writes John Abbott.
About the author
John Abbott is director of digital, data and technology for HM Land Registry.
We have started to look at how technology and digital projects will change the way we work in the future. Here, I will take a look at the current projects we are working on, the services they will produce, and how these are already affecting that future.
Digital Street is one of our key projects, and vital to our new business strategy. It is also fundamentally different to our other services.
Digital Street is our ground-breaking research and development project, which is exploring how technology can revolutionise land registration and conveyancing in the future. Unlike ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ and ‘Find property information’, Digital Street is not a digital service, it is an ongoing research project where we can explore and visualise different ideas, working with our partners to see what difference they could make. We have already created a digital register for a small selection of properties, which is a first step towards having a register that is fully machine-readable and able to be updated instantly.
We worked with our partners to create three concepts (potential ideas), which demonstrated what services could be achieved with a digital register. To be clear, we are not saying that these concepts should or even will ever be created by the market, or that they would even be created by us; they are just visualising an idea.
Digital Street will provide an opportunity for us to work closely with industry to explore how a digital register might enable new business models to make conveyancing simpler, faster and cheaper. The learning from Digital Street will inform our current digital services, both now and in their future development. It is our way of contributing towards a property industry where people will buy, rent, sell, finance, build and manage the property with ease.
On 5 April this year, our ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ service achieved a first, with the first-ever digital mortgage deed being registered in the Land Register. The service will speed up the remortgage process by enabling borrowers to sign their mortgage deeds online, at any time, once they have successfully verified their identity through GOV.UK Verify. This was a big step for the ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ team, for the mortgage lender (Coventry Building Society), and the conveyancer (Enact Conveyancing).
Put simply, ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ will replace the paper mortgage deed, digitising the process for homeowners who are remortgaging. No longer will a customer need a witness to observe as they put a wet signature on a mortgage deed. ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ makes use of GOV.UK Verify, enabling identity to be verified and mortgage deeds to be digitally signed. To reduce errors and to ensure the integrity of the register, we have built in safeguards to confirm that the names on the deed match those in the register.
The new service will help to simplify the remortgage process, speed up registration and reduce some of the overall timescales. We have worked with a number of lenders, conveyancers, and members of the home-owning public to create a service that will meet their needs.
We have worked with the market, listening to users’ pain points to establish what could improve the remortgage process. We are excited about ‘Sign your mortgage deed’, and are looking forward to seeing how it will enable transformation in the remortgage process when we bring it to the market later in the year.
Our ‘Find property information’ service allows citizens to download a summary of information about a property, including the address; title number; the current owner’s name and address; what they paid for the property; whether it is freehold or leasehold; whether there is a mortgage on the property; and the lender’s contact details.
We were delighted that ‘Find property information’ passed its Government Digital Service (GDS) beta assessment in December 2017, following our work with GDS to ensure that our services meet GDS standards.
While this information about a property has been available for years, it has not been presented in an easy-to-understand format. We have built ‘Find property information’ based on user feedback to make it easier to use and understand. We are keen for this information to be easily accessible to enable potential homebuyers to make firm decisions, so that they can ultimately form tighter chains. We are continuing to develop ‘Find property information’; so get in touch if you are interested in testing the service.
It is not just about developing brand-new digital services like ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ and ‘Find property information’, or doing research and development like Digital Street.
To enable us to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data, we need some changes to our legislation so we can do things differently. Early last year, we sought views, through a public consultation, from our customers, stakeholders, and others with an interest in the property market on ‘Proposals to amend the Land Registration Rules 2003’. Following some excellent and insightful responses, the Rules were updated, on 6 April, by the Land Registration (Amendment) Rules 2018 SI No 70. The rule changes will allow us to introduce fully digital conveyancing documents, such as mortgages and transfers.
It is difficult to predict what the future of conveyancing and land registration will be. However, we are committed to ensuring that HM Land Registry is a flexible, responsive and customer-focused organisation.
Our commitment to becoming the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity, and an open approach to data, will ensure that we are fully prepared for future innovations in the property sector, whatever they may be.
Please join, support and partner with us as we explore how we can work together digitally to continue to make conveyancing simpler, faster and cheaper for everyone. Contact us via: www.gov.uk/land-registry