SPECIAL FEATURE: Demand and digitisation: How technology will help conveyancers keep pace – LMS

Special Feature: Travis Scholes of LMS, the UK’s leading provider of conveyancing services, have written an article on the subject of demand and digitisation: How technology will help conveyancers keep pace.

Despite expectations of a cooling in the housing market, there is little sign of it so far. According to the Halifax, prices in February rose at their fastest rate for 15 years, driven by high demand.

That follows “a lending year like no other” in 2021, as UK Finance’s mortgage director puts it. The stamp duty holiday drove sales up by almost half on 2020, with 1.5 million purchases, including 400,000 loans to first-time buyers and 440,000 to movers.

Even if activity this year doesn’t keep up such a frenetic pace, mortgage lending is still forecast to be well above historical levels. The second half of 2022 will see the largest number of expiring loans of any six-month period in the last decade. Even before then, a spike in early repayment charge expiries due at the start of April and the threat of imminent interest rate rises are likely to keep the market busy for some time to come – and conveyancers perhaps more than most.

Paper waits

Even without the onset of heightened activity, there’s a strong case for conveyancing and law firms to embrace the power of tech. With continued reliance on non-digital processes, it’s not hugely surprising that the process is slow and frustrating for conveyancers who just want to give the customer the best possible service. The use of tech to speed up processes is not a new idea, but using it to streamline activity and create small efficiencies will help transform the sector.

This sort of service is also what customers and partners increasingly expect. Fintech innovators and investments in technology are transforming the mortgage journey, accelerating the process, cutting paperwork and increasing convenience for borrowers. So, the issue is not that the tech doesn’t exist, more that there are too many providers focussing on automating single parts of the journey. Collaboration across the sector is vital to ensure that conveyancers are given clarity across the board with one end-to-end solution for automation.

The case for overhauling those processes is all the more compelling given that the requirements are relatively modest and certainly achievable. Even small investments can bring significant improvements to the efficiency of the conveyancing process. There’s a wide range of ready-made tools and experienced partners to automate time-consuming manual data entry and rekeying and implement digital document sharing and ID verification.

Simplicity and service

Such technology is easy to implement. Third party tech providers can seamlessly plug into case management systems (CMS) via API, enabling the frictionless transfer of data between lenders and the firm. Case data, mortgage offers, and charge registrations can all be automated. Such tech will also see the first fully digital remortgage take place this year as LMS will deliver the necessary tech to completely automate the entire process. This will apply to all simple cases and, crucially, will free up the conveyancer’s time to focus on more complex work.

The benefits in terms of convenience and simplicity for clients are obvious. It accelerates the process, reduces or removes the hassle and delays of postal correspondence, and eliminates the need to repeatedly supply the same information. Crucially, it also meets clients’ growing expectations of access to digital channels and modern services standards from their providers.

But digital tools bring at least equivalent benefits for conveyancing firms, massively reducing the time, effort, and consequent costs associated with the process. They also significantly reduce the opportunities for errors and – through tools such as digital ID verification and automatic bank account checks – the scope for fraud.

The technology improves firms’ security and competitiveness and safeguards their reputation with clients. HM Land Registry has also published standards for digital identity services, and those meeting them are protected if a client is not who they claim to be.

Should 2022 and the future prove anything like as busy for the conveyancing market as last year, these sorts of tools will be critical to meeting the demands placed on firms by customers, brokers and lenders. Regardless, they can free conveyancers from the repetitive, unskilled tasks in the standard process, allowing them to concentrate on complex cases and value-added services for clients. This is nothing new, but embracing the power of tech and collaboration will only serve to improve client relations and cement a positive reputation.