A BIT OF good news at last. The conveyancing side of buying and selling houses and apartments in Ireland has often seemed to be notoriously immune to modernisation and speed.

Long delays, endless papers going from one solicitor to another and of course the costs. But the long-awaited corner has been reached.

Reductions in both cost and time will commence from next Monday when three lenders, Permanent TSB, Allied Irish Bank and KBC Bank will be able to directly and electronically take a paid-off mortgage off your registered title in the Property Registration Authority who will also not charge the usual €25 fee. All other lenders may follow two weeks later.

The cancellation or discharge will not go through solicitors’ offices, as has been the case up to now.

It is widely seen as a modest but significant and brave step forward.

“This is a first and important step in the overdue process of bringing the buying and selling of properties here into the 21st century,” says Kevin O’Higgins, the president of the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association.

All that’s missing is a bit of activity in the market to start the electronic ball rolling.