The introduction of Electronic Conveyancing has seen huge reforms across the industry and has already proven its enormous benefits for all parties involved in a matter.
The NSW Government has now released its timeline for the full transition to e-conveyancing to take place. By July 2019, all conveyancing settlements will be completely paperless and conducted using the online platform Property Exchange Australia (PEXA). The timeline involves different stages to ensure a seamless transition and will not only affect purchase and sale matters but also mortgages, caveats, refinances and the like.
By 1 July 2019, all Certificate of Titles will be converted from paper to electronic titles. It will eliminate the need to conduct settlements in person and as a result will significantly reduce the time and cost of arranging settlement. Buyers will no longer need to pay for bank cheques and sellers will receive their money quicker as settlement funds will be paid by EFT from a secure bank account on the PEXA platform.
Title documents will be registered almost immediately after settlement, which will avoid the risks associated with delays in registration. The pre-settlement lodgement checks will also reduce requisitions from LPI after settlement if something is not correct on a document.
Settlement is not the only step in conveyancing that can be done electronically. E-Contracts and e-signing technologies have been introduced allowing conveyancing matters to be done from exchange to settlement with no paper at all. Electronic signatures are enabling quicker and more efficient exchanges, secured using data such as your IP Address. This will make conveyancing much simpler, especially for parties who are not local to their solicitor or conveyancer.
Jenkins Legal Services have already begun conducting electronic settlements and will continue workings towards having all our conveyancing matters paperless from exchange to settlement.