E-registry bill in final stages

Bill to turn document-based property transactions into paper-free exercises

Property transactions to be totally paper-free

The Land Registry has launched a consultation on the final stages of a bill that will turn document-based property transactions into totally paper-free exercises within a year.

The register itself is already digitised and holds evidence of title to 22 million properties in England and Wales.

Property searches and most of the other preliminary work involved in buying and selling houses is already done electronically, but proposed Land Registry rules will enable land or property to be disposed of electronically in an entirely paper-free process.

They prescribe an electronic transfer as a way of registering land. Existing rules provide for the creation of standalone electronic legal charges (usually remortgages) but the new rules will allow for both standalone electronic legal charges and electronic charges accompanying a transfer.

The consultation will talk to conveyancers, lenders, financial institutions, regulatory and representative bodies (such as The Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers) and other property professionals such as estate agents.