Order morning coffee – there’s an app for that, check when the bus is coming, there’s an app for that, order kid’s lunches while in transit – there’s an app for that, check out the latest news- there’s an app for that .. get the picture? Apps, smart gadgets are now embedded in our daily life. Certainly simplifying our manner of living by presenting us to efficiency through speed, instantly becoming habitual. Further proven by the present age we live in, where the majority of humans rely on digital developments. Our life is so deeply rooted in the digital that we would be lost without it.
As technology increasingly forms part of our everyday lives, likewise it is impacting the property industry.
You may say this is an interesting perspective from a representative of an Electronic Lodgement Network Operator, and you may be right, however, I am also a Conveyancer. I have seen and am part of the transformation of the property industry, particularly conveyancing.
Discussions with my industry colleagues always turn to how much things have changed. The conveyancing industry has witnessed a significant digital transformation over the last decade; from client engagement to business processes and settling property in Australia.
A question I ask myself is: What does the next decade look like for conveyancing?
Digital transformation has been widely adopted. Lending communications, loan applications, contract acceptance, and now execution, are all digital.
Gone are the days of putting in a paper offer for a property. You now use an app, providing transparency, allowing hopeful buyers to see just how their offer stacks up.
Electronic Conveyancing has reformed the paper process of settling property, removing the love/hate relationship industry had with settlement rooms. Transactions no longer involve people meeting in person at all, the exchange of land registry documents, payments and signatures all occur online.
Many within the industry have concerns, I know! I hear it often, asking just where this will end up and what will the role of the conveyancer be? There is no doubt in my mind the role of the conveyancer in a conveyancing transaction extends well past the part technology plays.
Electronic conveyancing has introduced new processes and requirements for settling a property such as verification of identity, client authorisation, the establishment of the right to deal, which many could argue has also brought benefits to the process and as an industry-only increased their value.
Whilst advancements in AI or API solutions can automate parts of the process, convert, scan and populate title and property data into contracts within your practice management system, enable electronic acceptance of documentation, and yes in some instances give basic advice depending on responses to specific questions, an API will not be able to deal with the complexity of detailed property transactions, nor support a client in understanding how the law applies to their circumstance. Ensuring your client is legally authorised to deal with the property, reducing the risk to the practitioner, and more importantly, establishing a personal working relationship with your clients.
Conveyancers navigate our clients through one of the biggest investments of their lives. Technology cannot replace rapport and expertise.
A 2018 Deloitte report 1 revealed this future is not as far away as it sounds.
The report found that the digitalisation of conveyancing would bring benefits to practitioners, allowing them to focus time and expertise on doing what they do best, advising their clients. Sympli wants to ensure you have that time.
Things move fast in the digital world, constantly evolving and ELNO’s as we are known are certainly playing our part. Exactly what is that?
ELNO’s are Electronic Lodgement Network Operators, who facilitate the preparation of the electronic filing and lodgement of land registry dealings and the settlement and distribution of funds.
Sympli is focused on being your trusted partner in e-settlements, by bringing you simple solutions, and a platform that meets your needs, through integration with your practice management software. Sympli is the ELNO for conveyancers, it has no intention to ever become the conveyancer.
By Angie Nguyen Manager
Practitioner Services SA/WA/TAS – Registered Conveyancer
1 Deloitte “The Future of the Australian Conveyancing Industry 2025 and 2030”, June 2018
