E-conveyancing could reduce transaction to five days

The development of a fully electronic conveyancing system will reduce the total transaction time for buying a house to as little as five days, the Law Society has said.

Welcoming the Government’s pledge to deliver an e-conveyancing system in the Construction 2020 strategy, published on the eve of the local elections, the representative group for solicitors said home-buyers would reap the rewards of a “transformed” system.

"The current paper-based process is creaking at the seams and cannot deal with the demands of the modern property market," said Ken Murphy, director general of the Law Society.

The average transaction time is 22 weeks, but the society says the e-conveyancing model it has been working towards could reduce that to five working days where the buyer has the funds available.

“The aim is to provide a system whereby a person could agree to buy a property on a Monday morning and be the registered owner by Friday afternoon,” said Mr Murphy.