The 9th Property Forum Dinner Event has been held at the Sofitel, Pall Mall with speeches on both Home Information Packs and E-conveyancing.
The dinner - facilitated by Searchflow - attracted 120 key influencers from across the property industry including estate agents, surveyors, lenders and conveyancers.
They heard the Housing Minister, the Rt Hon Keith Hill MP in his first audience with the housing sector since the enabling of the Housing Act, give emphatic support for HIPS. He firmly rejected any suggestion from his audience that the government had given themselves a get out clause in the new ACT saying "Property professionals and the rest of the industry now have the certainty they need to invest in the new business opportunities the Packs will bring to the buying and selling process".
The Minister confirmed that "the packs will come into force from January 2007, following a six-month 'dry-run'."
The governments' view is that the current process of buying and selling a house is 'shambolic' and serves no one well, including the seller. "We are clear that making key information available right at the start of the process makes home buying and selling easier, more transparent and more successful" said the minister, going on to comment that HIPS "will enable buyers and sellers to exercise real choice at a stage when they are not yet committed - a fundamental principle of all consumer legislation."
The Minister said he was pleased to attend the event "because constructive discussion and debate between industry players should be encouraged - all sides need an opportunity to air their views and concerns before profound changes that effect the industry are formalised. The Property Forum provides an ideal, non partisan platform for interested parties to do just that"
Speaking of implementation of the packs the Minister commented that the improved flow of information will be the key to successfully obtaining and consolidating much of the information required for HIPs. He reflected that "firms such as Searchflow - who have sponsored this event
tonight - have been amongst the trailblazers in this field and have pioneered the provision of better information to support the conveyancing process in a secure, on-line environment. They and others like them will be ideally placed to broaden their scope to support the property transactions of the future.
In addition, Deputy Chief Executive of Land Registry and Director for Business Development, Ted Beardsall CBE gave the audience an update on econveyancing highlighting the achievements so far and sharing some of the exciting developments which Land Registry is working on now.
The vision for e-conveyancing is "Easier conveyancing for all" and Ted provided a short, working definition namely "the transformation of the current paper based conveyancing system into electronic form, using electronic documents, requisitions and signatures." But he stressed that this generic definition did not do justice to all the changes in prospect in England and Wales, "because we have our sights on bringing together completion and registration, which represents the zenith of what we are trying to achieve".
Looking ahead Ted spelled out his vision for the next two years "In 2005, we'll see a more extensive range of forms delivered electronically. And we'll be piloting a PKI solution to the issues of electronic signatures. And as we move through 2005 and 2006, we will
make substantial progress through the electronic lodgement of deeds and mortgages, which will develop into electronic registration. Whilst doing this, we will be introducing the important information and communication features of e-conveyancing. By the time we reach 2007, we believe we'll all be ready for the introduction of a pilot scheme for combining completion with registration in a paperless electronic system, and then the full vision will be realised. By that time, too, we'll be very disappointed if our extensive work with the banking industry hasn't led to the introduction of Electronic Funds Transfers.
The speeches were followed by an informal debate amongst the dinner guests.
The Dinner Host Mark Riddick, Searchflow Chief Executive commented - "The Property Forum is about industry wide debate on how technology and legislation is transforming the processing of property transaction. Home Information Packs and E-conveyancing are the two most significant initiatives on both counts. Now that they are both happening we need to prepare. The Property Forum will help you to do this."
