Solicitor casts doubt on five-year target for introducing electronic conveyancing

It may take longer than the anticipated five years to introduce a full system of electronic conveyancing, the general counsel to the Land Registry's e-conveyancing task force warned delegates in Birmingham.Stephen Kelway, a solicitor and Land Registrar, said he considered five years to be 'optimistic'; it could take up to ten years.However, Mr Kelway said a series of measures are around the corner.

The electronic lodgement of certain non-dispositionary applications - such as cautions and notifications of the death of a joint proprietor - should be introduced in March 2002.

This would require solicitors to certify, for example, that they have the death certificate.Direct electronic discharges are also high on the agenda, he said.

The ability for staff at major lenders to cancel entries on the Land Register without involving the registry itself would replace the current ENDS (electronic notification of discharge) system.The electronic lodgement of forms and deeds is 'at least a year away', Mr Kelway said, while being able to register electronic charges directly is also in the pipeline.

He said lenders are keen on this, as they see it could allow for remortgages overnight; however, he said this too might be 'a bit optimistic'.Mr Kelway said there have been talks with the administrators of the CHAPS payments and CREST share transfer systems, aimed at achieving automatic and simultaneous payments across a property chain.Paul Hughes, a policy official at the Lord Chancellor's Department, said that while there was a possibility that anti-terrorism legislation could delay the passage of the Land Registration Bill, which is setting up the e-conveyancing regime.

He expects it to receive Royal Assent next spring and be implemented 12 to 18 months later.

It reaches its report

Neil Rose