Updated on 20 June 2024
One-click conveyancing, and online home buying are ideas that have been thrown around the media in recent months, but what do they really mean? Stephen Ward, director of strategy at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, explains
The government is currently urging all of us in the property sector to help revamp the homebuying process and modernise what is quite an antiquated process.
This will be welcome music to a home buyer’s ears, but what is the likelihood of an Amazon style ‘one-click’ purchase becoming a reality for the majority of us?
In April, a home owner in Rotherhithe, London, remortgaged their property and became the first person in the UK to sign their mortgage deed digitally online. A much smoother process than waiting for documents in the post that need to be signed, witnessed and returned. So, what about the rest of us, will this soon be a reality? Can you use this on your next property purchase?
HM Land Registry
Well, the honest answer is probably ‘not any time soon’. This was the first in a series of steps HM Land Registry plans to take in its drive to transform the conveyancing market into a more efficient, digital service using technology and data to streamline transactions. The process is still far from widespread and won’t be for some time. But change is most definitely afoot and there is real excitement in the property industry about what we could achieve.
A number of tools exist which give the potential for the entire process to be available via a ‘one-click’ transaction. So, it is easy to imagine your property purchase journey beginning with a visit to a site like Zoopla or Rightmove and moving seamlessly to mortgage offer, background and financial checks and ultimately purchase.
HM Land Registry recently launched a digital street programme which has been able to demonstrate how digital title information – the paper documents showing the chain of ownership for land and property – could be made available alongside the usual property details as a property is marketed.
So, the idea of being able to view a property online and to submit an offer that is digitally delivered to your vendor and either accepted or rejected all on the same day, is perfectly feasible.
Buyers will still need to be sure that the property they are interested in genuinely meets their needs, that they can use it as they need to and they understand any risks they are running – assisted by the due diligence that conveyancers carry out for buyers.
The government’s online Verify service makes provision for anti-money laundering checks to be undertaken and the advent of open banking allows for mortgage offers to be made online. There are also a number of online conveyancing firms, in addition to traditional firms who now also offer online services.
There are also several examples of niche technology companies turning their attentions to the property market and starting to provide solutions which will allow for a smoother, quicker purchase process for both purchaser and vendor.
ID verification
In May, ShieldPay piloted an instant digital escrow facility which powered the UK’s first fully digital mortgage settlement. An escrow system reduces the risk of fraud by verifying the identity of all parties, holding funds securely and only releasing funds directly to all relevant parties (including HM Land Registry and HM Revenue & Customs) when all sides agree they’re happy for the transaction to proceed.
This helps protect both vendors and purchasers from having money intercepted, or it being diverted to an unauthorised source. It also provides purchasers, in particular, with greater security, especially in the face of growing fraud which targets purchasers transferring large sums of money during a property transaction.
One-click purchase
Depending on where you currently live in the UK, as futuristic as it may sound, there may already be the ability to buy a property with just one click.
Dot Button, a US based technology company, allows purchasers to browse available properties, and then click to purchase, triggering the financing, purchasing, conveyancing and even furnishing of a property.
The system is currently only available to buy-to-let purchasers, and is still in its infancy, but it definitely has the potential to be rolled out at some point beyond the buy-to-let market.
These companies are demonstrating that there is an appetite for change and there are companies who can step in and provide solutions to help drive the process forward, but we are likely to be some way off ‘one-click’ purchases being the standard method of buying a property in the UK.
However, these digital entrepreneurs are certainly starting to enhance the experience for vendors and purchasers alike, helping to create a less stressful, much smoother process for all. Watch this space.
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