Julie Barry, Head of Market Change and Stakeholder Management e-Conveyancing programme team at the Land Registry writes about involving stakeholders through the use of collaboration software
Land Registry’s e-conveyancing service brings a new opportunity for joined up government and easier access to property related information
It is too easy to think of property buyers and sellers as the only beneficiaries of a more transparent and information-friendly e-conveyancing service. New services such as the Chain Matrix that offer secure, online access to details of the progress of their transaction will certainly help keep people up to speed at a time that is widely acknowledged as being one of life’s most stressful events. However, this is only one way in which the power of the internet will be used to bring benefits to a much wider community.
Conveyancers too will appreciate many of the new features that e-conveyancing will bring as Land Registry has worked closely with this key group of its customers on the design of new e-conveyancing services for a number of years. Its inclusive approach has paid dividends for both sides. Land Registry has learnt an enormous amount about the values and the culture of the legal profession and conveyancers from all over the country have welcomed the opportunity to develop new ways of working with Land Registry that preserve the heritage and traditions of conveyancing whilst eliminating its frustrations and inefficiencies.
More B2B links between Land Registry and other government departments
One of the key outcomes of this collaborative working is the planned introduction in 2007 of a new way of lodging electronic applications for the registration of land and also for the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax, so linking together two government departments, Land Registry and HM Revenue & Customs.
Several other government departments are watching Land Registry’s proposals for the provision of electronic signatures with great interest, particularly in view of its stringent requirements for confirming a user’s identity before a signature can be issued. It is possible that the use of other government data could become an integral part of this process.
These new B2B links will supplement Land Registry’s existing connections with organisations such as the National Land Information Service and several large lenders.
Real-time access to property information
With around 1.2 million property transactions undertaken each year, it is easy to see the potential for harnessing information on property prices and trends. Most information presented to the market nowadays comes from lending institutions who only have access to a percentage of the market activity or from government departments such as Land Registry where information is often extremely accurate but out of date when it is published. As one of the longer-term objectives is to update ownership on the Land Register as soon as completion of the transaction takes place, this type of property information will be available in real time and not several weeks or months later.
Consultation with stakeholders over the web
The diverse interests of such a wide group of e-conveyancing stakeholders presented Land Registry with a challenge: how to keep such large numbers of people who may have very particular information requirements up to date with progress of this critically important government programme. The decision to use the web as a means of keeping in touch was one that largely made itself and Land Registry now uses collaboration software to conduct market research, spread news and information and encourage dialogue between members of the e-conveyancing community.
In the coming months, Land Registry will use its web community to support a group of 80 conveyancing firms participating in the testing of the Chain Matrix service in Portsmouth, Fareham (Hampshire) and Bristol and also to conduct further market research and
e-consultations.
The software used by the Land Registry is provided by UK based company, iNovem.
iNovem is a leading provider of online community, collaboration and consultation software to the UK public sector. Their software is used by organisations such as the Land Registry, the Health & Safety Executive, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and local authorities who have a growing need to consult and collaborate with key stakeholders and members of the public.
For more information see: www.inovem.com/solutions/gov
