The “wet signature” looks set to be erased from the property market after the Land Registry announced it will accept property deeds signed and witnessed electronically.
These enable an individual to sign legal documents online but still require a witness who is present at the time to also electronically sign the documents.
The Land Registry said this change would encourage providers to develop new affordable and accessible tools to help conveyancers make the home buying process more efficient and secure.
Under the changes, a witnessed electronic signature can replace a wet-ink signature in a standard property deed, the Land Registry said.
Transfers of ownership of property, leases, mortgages and other property dealings can now be signed electronically, according to the changes.
A conveyancer would still need to upload the deed to an online platform which sends a link to the signatories.
In every case the online platform would need to include two-factor authentication to authenticate the signatories and witness accessing the deed and provide assurance that unique individuals have signed.
The conveyancer is then notified that the signing process has been concluded and can go on to register the deed.
The Land Registry also said it is exploring the use of qualified electronic signatures that would allow a “qualified trust provider” to verify a signature themselves.
Simon Hayes, chief executive of the Land Registry, said: “What we have done is remove the last strict requirement to print and sign a paper document in a home buying or other property transaction.
“This should help right now while lots of us are working at home, but it is also a keystone of a truly digital, secure and more efficient conveyancing process that we believe is well within reach.
“The more sophisticated qualified electronic signatures are a part of that vision and encouraging those is where our attention will be directed next.
“I’d like to thank everyone who responded to our consultation on the guidance. This has helped to ensure this new witnessed electronic signature process works for everyone.”
Commenting on the changes,Adam Forshaw, managing director at conveyancers O’Neill Patient, said: “This is a significant step forward for home buyers, as it means that in principle the entire home buying journey can now be conducted electronically.
“Even before the advent of Covid-19 and social distancing, there was significant demand for a more tech-driven process. But one of the biggest problems facing the property sector in lockdown was the ongoing requirement for ‘wet-ink’ signatures.
“The Land Registry is to be commended for moving quickly from consultation to new guidance.
“We look forward to working with them on their additional proposals to accept ‘qualified electronic signatures’, which will further improve security and remove the need for a witness altogether.”
This is indeed very good news indeed.
Small caveat in that the dual authentication and independent witness signatures are not provided as standard by the e-signature providers today which will sadly delay implementation.
The other major hurdle, is, sadly, our good old friend inertia. When this project was announced, it prompted wails of frightened indignation from lawyers with concerns about fraud and increased insurance premiums.
Having had my signature stolen and used to withdraw £10,000 from our company’s CLIENT account from a major high street bank branch in London, I do not share such faith in the use of signatures….
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Two camps will be created:
1. those who won’t add extra fraud risk to their role
2. those firms who think this is the latest idea and bolt it onto their working methods without realising the implications
Conveyancers – just be so careful, it’s already a PII minefield out there at the moment.
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If an e-signature provider develops an app that integrates with MS Teams or Zoom, so that you can verify by video in real time that the correct buyer and his/her witness is logging in and making the digital signature, then that does not add any fraud risk? A conveyancer can probably organise a Teams video call manually now and see who is logging in to e-sign. Record the session and store it for 5 years in AWS glacial if still worried about the audit trail. As Peter Ambrose says in the comments above, we are probably just waiting for the e-sig providers to tweak their app to require concurrent dual signatories, rather than one signature after another in sequence as at present.
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