Coventry Building Society and Enact Conveyancing have lodged the first digitally signed mortgage for a house in Rotherhithe, London.
The digital mortgage was signed by the borrower and registered at HM Land Registry as part of its ‘sign your mortgage deed’ service, which removes the need for a witness to watch as the homeowner applies an ink signature to a paper mortgage deed.
As well as saving time, the Land Registry says it provides a more secure service to homeowners, lenders and conveyancers.
The registration of the deed follows months of collaboration and testing with Coventry Building Society and Enact Conveyancing and uses GOV.UK Verify to enable borrowers to securely verify their identity before digitally signing their mortgage deed online.
HM Land Registry chief executive and chief land registrar, Graham Farrant, said: “By working with partners in the industry, we have secured a simpler and faster service for the benefit of home owners. We are looking forward to rolling this out nationally and will be working with more conveyancers and lenders to do so.”
Peter Frost, chief operating officer at Coventry Building Society, added: “We’re delighted to have worked with HM Land Registry and Enact Conveyancing on this industry leading initiative to speed up property transactions. Initial feedback has been very positive, with customers finding the process simple, quick and secure. Although this initiative has started with remortgages we’re excited about the potential for it to be extended to purchases in the future.”
Ben Carroll, Enact Conveyancing’s managing director, commented: “We emphasise innovation that benefits our customers and improves their experience, so we are extremely pleased to join HM Land Registry and Coventry Building Society on this pioneering effort to transform the conveyancing process. This fully-digitised journey will mean that a customer can sign their mortgage deed online at a time and place of their choosing, securely underpinned by the GOV.UK Verify platform.”
Article originally posted on Financial Reporter