Digital Identity Standard will ‘revolutionise’ West Midlands’ residential property sector
Stratford-upon-Avon District Council has completed its migration to the HM Land Registry’s (HMLR) local land charges (LLC) online register and Digital Identity Standard, marking a major step forward for the residential property sector’s digital-first strategy for professional advisers, conveyancers and solicitors in the West Midlands.
The latest in the rollout of the HM Land Registry’s Digital Identity Standard, Stratford’s move will ‘revolutionise’ the work and time-efficiencies of land searches for the region’s property sector, according to Kate Bould, the managing director of bespoke property search firm Index West Midlands.
Kate Bould is managing director of Index West Midlands Property Information.
Kate, who has worked closely with HM Land Registry and Stratford District Council to support the move from the paper-based to fully online system, says:
“This is significant for the sector’s digital strategy in the region.
“The HM Land Registry Digital Identity Standard eliminates local variations in price, speed and format to create a standardised and streamlined service.
“It delivers instant online search results with 24/7 access to the data that will reduce delays to conveyancers and solicitors receiving searches. This is a huge boost for property advisers and professionals, and allows homebuyers to use their mobile phone to prove their identity.”
Under the programme that originally launched in 2018, HM Land Registry is centralising all local land charges registers held by local authorities across England and Wales, into one single digital register.
The migration for Stratford upon Avon district council completed on 10th May, and is the first in HM Land Registry’s second phase of the rollout programme that is scheduled for this year, and the second local authority in the West Midlands region to complete the switch since HMLR launched the programme – Warwick District Council was one of the first local authorities to migrate to register.
Kate comments:
“The programme’s next phase of rollout is a significant milestone for not only Stratford-upon-Avon, but the region too. The West Midlands is at the heart of the digital system’s migration for the remaining forty local authorities in England and Wales, with the local authorities covering Worcestershire, Dudley, West Bromwich, Redditch and Bromsgrove next in line to join the online system by the end of this financial year.
“The Index West Midlands team works closely with all of these local authorities, and in the same way as we have supported Stratford-upon-Avon to move to the HMLR register, is now poised to support their scheduled switch to the digital-first system.”
She adds:
“Stratford-upon-Avon District Council’s investment in its migration to the fully digital search system will address overnight the many historic issues associated with residential house purchasers in the area, such as variations in price, speed and format, and create a standardised and streamlined service.”
Customers in the Stratford-upon-Avon District Council geographic area can now benefit from:
- guaranteed search results that provide the highest level of due diligence;
- the full spatial extent of every charge appears on the search result;
- standardized fee for each search, providing a reduction to the current national average price;
- consistent quality of data which provides clear and accurate search results;
- instant online search results with 24/7 access to the data, reducing delays in receiving searches;
- unlimited repeat searches for six months to check for any new land charges before completing a transaction.
Kate adds:
“This is a defining moment for the West Midlands’ property sector professional communities of conveyancers, mortgage advisers, commercial and residential property lawyers, real estate and agriculture lawyers,”.
Index West Midlands has an extensive range of services and products in its digital portfolio – an electronic signature solution, recognised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Land Registry as fully compliant and which improves document turnround times by 80%.
Its SRA-compliant Electronic Customer Due Diligence (CDD) app verifies client identity and proof of address in seconds, and rated the quickest, safest, most convenient and efficient way for property lawyers to obtain an easy to read, comprehensive ID report. The app also carries-out anti-money laundering checks and compliance, address checks, PEPs, sanctions screening, and generates a snapshot of funding sources for conveyancing transactions.
Index West Midlands provides conveyancing searches, including reports and property transaction solutions such as environmental risk factors, HS2, utility and telecommunications reports, for commercial and residential property lawyers, real estate and agriculture lawyers, across Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the Black Country.
For more information: https://indexpi.co.uk/offices/westmidlands.html.
Kindly shared by Index West Midlands
Main photo courtesy of Pixabay
