RoS hosted the Future of Conveyancing conference on behalf of the Scottish conveyancing industry in June 2021.

This is the third in a  series of blogs to continue the discussion that was started at that event.  During the conference we asked for your feedback on the practical changes you’d like to see and what challenges may stand in our way.  Electronic signatures were highlighted as a topic of interest.

On 22 September we welcomed 45 people to participate in a meeting to discuss the topic of Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES).  In addition to commercial and residential conveyancers this also included representatives from the Law society, the Property Law Committee, local authorities, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Property Exchange Australia (PEXA).

Our goal for the meeting was to achieve:

1. A frank and free flowing discussion on the topic of Qualified Electronic Signatures.
2. A set of defined actions and next steps.

During the meeting we outlined RoS’ approach to electronic signatures as well as inviting views and discussion from attendees.

RoS intends to undertake a digital registration proof of concept in quarter four of this financial year.  This builds upon the channel shift from paper to online introduced by digital submissions and the reuse of data enabled by Register Land and Property which was introduced in June of this year.  This proof of concept, which will inform RoS’ planning in the financial year 2022/23 and beyond, will be focussed on digital deeds, their signing and registration on the Land Register.

We framed the conversation around two main questions…

1. Is the RoS approach to QES and digital registration right for the profession?
2. How do we drive uptake and interest in QES?

Key points raised included the speed of change, whether the creation of an end-to-end digital registration system and electronic signatures require to be progressed together or whether two streams of work could operate in parallel and whether we should take a step back to consider whether we are being radical enough with our thinking in terms of system transformation.

During the meeting we ran a couple of polls with attendees. We asked…

• Do you use electronic signatures? Yes 44% | No 55%
• If you don’t currently use electronic signatures, would you like to in future? Yes 100%

We also took a poll on whether the RoS approach to QES and digital registration is right for the profession? 81% of attendees said yes.

A number of action points were agreed at the meeting:

• 18 people volunteered to be part of a working group which will take forward actions on this issue and reflect upon the points raised in this initial discussion
• 15 people volunteered to be part of the ‘RoS Digital Registration Proof of Concept’
• Information will be shared with local authority colleagues on digital seals
• Discussions will be facilitated to help resolve any IT firewall issues related to accessing the Law Society’s smart card

We will be in contact with everyone who has expressed an interest in either the working group or the proof of concept. If you are interested in the work of either group, please contact events@ros.gov.uk.

Keep an eye out for our next blog in the Future of Conveyancing series coming soon.