Home to innovation: how the UK is leading the way in digital conveyancing

In 2023, the government committed £3 million to improve the home transaction process, with specific funding designated for creating digital property tech products and digitising the property data held by local councils.

Many of these products either already exist in the law technology sector (lawtech) or are in development. This provides a great starting point for the government’s investment.

Speeding up the home transaction process is in everyone’s best interest.

It takes an average of six months to buy or sell a home in the UK, which can dissuade people, especially first-time buyers or sellers, from starting the process.

By cutting the time even by a quarter, we could see increased satisfaction from home sellers and buyers and more capacity for conveyancers to take on more transactions.

Before the dissolution of UK parliament, the importance of improving the home buying and selling process was recognised by the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee.

The committee received oral evidence from representatives of the conveyancing sector regarding the benefits that digitisation could bring to the conveyancing process and the desire within the industry to accelerate its adoption.

When the committee re-forms in the next parliament, it should take full consideration of the benefits on offer, and how widespread adoption of these technologies could improve the home buying and selling process in the coming years.

There are several technologies on the market that can digitise and speed up formerly paper-based tasks, saving clients a trip to their solicitor’s office.

Many of these are available in one convenient location: Dye & Durham’s Unity® Global Platform.

The next UK government can significantly improve the home buying and selling process by incentivising the use of digital tools that speed up and simplify the process while maintaining the integrity and compliance of the transaction.

The UK legal sector will be an important partner to government in expediting the digital transformation of the home transaction process, making it easier, quicker and smoother for clients and conveyancers alike – and taking the hassle out of buying or selling a home.