Conveyancing is archaic. Conveyancing lawyers are traditionalist and stuck in their ways. The conveyancing process hasn’t evolved much, despite the quantum evolution of technological advancements.

As a client of property legal services, you would be forgiven if you’ve had at least one of the above thoughts. As a property solicitor myself, I have struggled with the glacial speed at which the conveyancing sector evolves.

I fully recognise that property is a much sought after asset class throughout the world. UK property in particular offers a very appealing asset class. Two large factors enabling the UK to hold that accolade are the stability of the conveyancing process and the Government-backed title guarantee that the Land Registry provides to all titles registered with it.

Given the stability of the conveyancing process, it is no surprise that all the key stakeholders - the Land Registry, the conveyancers, the financial institutions, to name but a few, have a vested interest in ensuring that any modernisation of the conveyancing sector only happens after careful consideration of all the permutations and at a pace that doesn’t make the change irreversible, just in case the change goes pear-shaped. So whilst the conveyancing sector evolves slowly, recognise that the pace of change is right to preserve the stability of the sector and thus enhance the appeal of UK property as a valuable asset class.

The pandemic has however forced all of us to change and for many of us to evolve to survive. The Land Registry, arguably the nucleus of the conveyancing process, has not been spared.

In this article, I will share with you what they’ve done, how it’s going with some real ‘life lessons’ from my colleagues in legal practice, including some pinch points and what to look forward to as the conveyancing sector continues to evolve.