The use of Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES), where the signatory’s identity is pre-checked – removing the need for a witness – rose from 55 in Q2 to 643 in the three months to September, according to Land Registry data released under the Freedom of Information Act. In Q1, just five instances of QES usage were recorded.
Land Registry began accepting the secure digital signatures in August 2025, but uptake in the mortgage industry remained low until recently.
In February, Nationwide announced it was the first lender to allow mortgage deeds to be signed digitally, with Skipton following in August. Two months later, conveyancing services provider LMS rolled out QES for mortgage deed signing for lender and law firm customers.
| Quarter | Total applications received | Applications containing QES |
| Q3 2025* | 734,783 | 1 |
| Q4 2025 | 1,201,626 | 2 |
| Q1 2026 | 1,115,348 | 5 |
| Q2 2026 | 1,147,141 | 55 |
| Q3 2026 | 1,239,223 | 643 |
| Total | 5,438,121 | 706 |
*Q3 2025 Aug & Sep only
Chris Williams, transformation and strategy partner at Novus Strategy, said: “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Adoption of QES has exploded in the third quarter and it’s the best indication yet that Horizontal Digital Integration is gathering pace.
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“The momentum is certainly building now and it’s very exciting because it indicates that there’s much more going on behind the scenes, as lenders and others involved in home buying build interoperability into the entire home buying journey. For lenders, this starts with redesigning the mortgage journey, but every actor in a transaction has an important part to play.”
