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E-conveyancing - 'Fortune favours the brave', says PEXA

An Australian FinTech which this year entered the UK market has outlined the e-conveyancing lessons that the UK property industry can learn from its counterparts Down Under.

"Fortune favours the brave. Lenders and firms who committed early to the digital journey had the opportunity to contribute to shaping the digital conveyancing experience, giving themselves a competitive edge as they were able to adapt their processes and train their people before others," Heather Crichton, General Manager Industry Readiness at PEXA, said.

She insisted that 100% adoption of new technology and processes doesn't need to happen overnight. "Firms often start with processing only a few transactions, and then a few more. What we have seen in Australia is a rapid adoption from there, mitigating dual processing, and to save time and energy."

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She added: "We must emphasise that industry collaboration is critical – never before have we seen lenders and firms unite with the objective to uplift the entire conveyancing experience."

In the exclusive interview with Estate Agent Today, which appeared over the weekend, Crichton argues that what the current UK market demonstrates 'is an appetite for technology, and the degree to which ideas have come out of industry itself'.

"Our focus is on bringing our solution to market, and hope that the benefits are seen as compelling by lenders and firms," she said.

"There are a lot of FinTech/PropTech solutions in the market at the moment, and we receive regular feedback from industry that the volume and variety is overwhelming – there is an abundance of choice. However, our intention is to centralise and streamline processes, backed by the knowledge we have developed over the past decade."

Crichton argues in the Q&A that the UK conveyancing sector is ripe for tech disruption, with the pandemic highlighting how important technology is to the conveyancing experience.

"Overnight, we saw an increased willingness in the industry to adopt solutions like video conferencing technology, and digital signing capability. We hope the industry will use this experience to ‘bounce forward’ rather than roll back, and keep the momentum going regarding technology adoption."

She added: "In the absence of infinite recruiting (which would require infinite budget), the best (if not only) way to provide a good customer experience is to leverage technology. In today’s world, where every business is compared to Uber and Amazon, embracing technology is almost a non-negotiable."

You can read the full interview here.

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    Meanwhile, in the real world, the Building Safety Act 2022, which is nearly 400 pages long, has been passed into law. This Act, plus future secondary legislation, will have numerous and significant implications for leasehold conveyancing.

    No cliches can mask the fundamental problem of property ownership in the UK; politicians love to pass laws relating to its ownership including planning, the environment and taxation.

    As a judge once said - 'it's all very well putting the law, in a nutshell, it is keeping it there!'

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