In June 2021 Registers of Scotland hosted the Future of Conveyancing Conference on behalf of the industry. 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. Amongst a range of responses, it was evident that the industry had an interest in Digital Registration and Qualified Electronic Signatures. Since then, RoS has committed to a range of actions to explore these topics including our Digital Registration Proof of Concept (DRPoC). This blog is the next in the series following up from the conference.
On 25 April 2022, with the support of conveyancing solicitors Mackintosh & Wylie and Mair Matheson, RoS completed a Digital Registration Proof of Concept (DRPoC). The proof of concept tested the feasibility of generating a disposition from a RoS service that can be signed by wet or qualified electronic signatures (QES), and capable of being registered. This is a positive step towards our goal of achieving end-to-end digital registration.
From the starting point of the conference, we were clear that if we are to achieve this goal, we need to have cross industry support and collaboration. That is why, following the conference, we have run a series of activities to get solicitor colleagues actively involved.
This started with a webinar event on 22 September 2021, where we welcomed 45 people to participate in a meeting to discuss the topic of QES. Many of these people also expressed an interest in participating in the DRPoC and four follow up meetings were held in December and January to gain their views and insight.
Representatives from Mackintosh & Wylie have been with us at each of these stages and this work culminated in registering an application on 25 April. While we may still be at the start of this journey this experience has offered RoS a wealth of learning. The knowledge gained from the proof of concept will influence future development of our ‘Register Land and Property’ system (RLP), particularly around the generation of deeds. Over time, RLP will continue to grow, catering for a wider selection of application types, and in doing so will evolve into our digital registration service.
As we plan the evolution of the digital registration service our thinking around the DRPoC also evolved with input from our stakeholders. When we began, our intention was for the proof of concept to be aimed at residential transactions, this was later expanded to also include commercial. After the December sessions we responded to feedback and decided to focus on a single title transfer over one title. Over the course of the project, we also broadened the scope out to include those firms who don’t use QES, as well as those who do. With the help and support of industry colleagues we were able to refine and improve what we set out to achieve.
We are excited to take the learning we’ve gained so far and apply it to our future work. One of the most important findings from this project is the certainty that this process can provide both the submitting solicitor and RoS in terms of linking application data to the deed. As the application is created in our systems, we can rely on the contents of the deed matching the application. That certainty and reliability leads the way to fewer rejections and greater scope for automation, which in turn takes us closer to our digital registration goal.
In general, the legal profession has been supportive of this work. However, as part of the initiative we established there was significant lack of awareness and adoption of QES, particularly in the residential sector. It is acknowledged that RoS alone is unable to drive market penetration of the underpinning technology and normalise QES use, but through developing capability to accept documents executed electronically we hope to create conditions for their use.
We will continue to engage with the legal profession, lenders and third-party suppliers to help raise awareness and share our progress here with you.
None of this would have been possible without the support of our conveyancing partners. So, with this in mind I’d like to finish off this blog by adding a few words from Fiona Connolly from Mackintosh & Wylie and Lorraine Kerr from Mair Matheson about their experience supporting the proof of concept.
Fiona Connolly:
After participating at the Future of Conveyancing Conference I followed the work RoS was doing on QES and in particular Digital Registration with interest. Mackintosh & Wylie is a firm with over 140 years of history, and we want to continue to grow and innovate. Digital registration will only become a reality if the industry actively works together to achieve it. Being part of the Digital Registration Proof of Concept was our way of contributing towards that goal”. The RoS system created to achieve the Proof of Concept registration was well developed and straightforward to use.
Lorraine Kerr:
As conveyancing professionals, we all want the fastest, smoothest transactions for our clients. Working with the RoS and others to deliver this trial of the proof of concept is an active next step towards delivering that ease and speed for the industry. We were pleased to play a small part in making that aspiration a reality. We look forward seeing how work towards Digital Registration progresses.