The Land Registry Office has revealed it will need 80 firms for the first phase of its trial of the ‘chain matrix’ system, designed to show the progress of property transactions electronically.
The first phase – of which there are five – is timetabled to take place this autumn and the Government is currently recruiting firms to be involved. The Government will supply software to those firms to enable them to follow where they are in a property transaction.
Alan Dring, sales director of e-Conveyancer, claimed if the trial worked, it would radically change the sales propositions of electronic conveyancing firms.
Dring said: “Our software already provides people with the details of housing transactions. At the moment this is an ultimate selling point for us but by the end of the decade this will change as electronic conveyancing becomes a reality. There will be developments and we are ready for them.”
The entire trial is restricted to Bristol, Portsmouth and Fareham (Mortgage Solutions 13/02/06, p10).
Caroline Bray, spokeswoman for the Land Registry, said firms would want to get on board because they would get the first access to the Government’s software.
She said: “They are getting to use the system and are getting on at the beginning. It will not be everything it will be at the end but we will get feedback from there and can test how chains come together.”
Dan Hayson, sales and operations manager at property investment website Landlord Trader, said that while the firm had no current plans to do electronic conveyancing – in the wake of the Government’s scheme it would consider involvment.
He added: “While we cannot see the benefits of getting involved in the scheme at the moment it is not something we would rule out and will have to wait until more information comes to light.”
