WA makes digital history: record breaking online property transaction
With so many moving parts, players and a raft of paper files, finalising property exchange can be a lengthy and stressful time for home buyers and sellers.
Now, two WA-based conveyancers have broken with tradition and snared a national digital property record by swiftly finalising three property transactions in one virtual workspace – together with ANZ, NAB and Landgate.
The three linked, online property deals were securely exchanged online. Each transaction was individually finalised in just minutes.
“We had a vendor selling one property and buying another at the same time. On top of this, the vendor of the second property was also buying another home. It was Australia’s first triple linked electronic settlement,” said Mike Cameron, PEXA’s Group Executive, Operations.
“From a risk perspective there’s no better way to manage these more complex deals than settling online. The buyers’ names were registered on all of the titles in less than 60 minutes. It’s a sure way of mitigating any bad experiences for buyers and sellers who all had the reassurance of knowing that the multiple property transactions were promptly and securely settled in record time.
“This is a big deal particularly for cash buyers. With such large sums of money exchanging hands people rightly want to know that the property is theirs on the day – not in six weeks or longer, a common outcome with paper transactions.
“In the manual world many of these complex transactions fall apart when reliant on manual hand-offs. The potential for errors is high with so many documents exchanging hands.
“Electronic transactions are validated, signed off and approved by all parties prior to settlement, taking the stress out of settlement day. Having all the banks in the one online workspace saves hours in phone calls, scheduling settlement dates and times. There are no clerks running around doing the last minute banking. No worrying about drawing cheques to all the local authorities.”
Mike Cameron praised the two Mandurah-based practitioners acting for the buyer and seller. “C&R Conveyancing Mandurah and Waterways Conveyancing have sealed a great moment in digital history by completing Australia’s first linked triple property transaction online instead of defaulting to the complex manual way. Even more impressive, between them both companies have now exchanged property online for more than 50 buyers and sellers. Online conveyancing is set to gain traction in the near future now that real estate agents are also hearing about its benefits.”
Waterways Conveyancing Licensee Lyn MacQuarrie said her company had embraced e-Conveyancing since its inception. “We’ve now completed over 30 transactions on the PEXA Platform. Waterways Conveyancing is very excited to be part of Australia’s first triple transaction and looks forward to many more transactions.”
Debbie Sturgess Licensee C&R Conveyancing said the Mandurah-based practice is keenly moving forward with electronic conveyancing. “Settlement happened so smoothly on the day and to see monies in our Trust Account and the purchaser’s name on the Certificate of Title within nine minutes was amazing!”
Nearly 300 WA-based practitioners have signed up to PEXA.
PEXA at a glance:
- A digital platform for completing online lodgement and property settlements removing the need to physically attend a property settlement.
- Conveyancers, lawyers, banks and land registries interact, collaborate and share information online.
- Buyers no longer need to purchase bank cheques, alleviating a last minute rush to arrange cheques and reducing the risks of settlement delays when printed cheques contain errors.
- Funds settle through the Reserve Bank of Australia.
- Property sellers’ funds may be available in hours rather than days compared with paper settlements*. Land Registry documents can be lodged in real time.
- The network comprises 101 financial institutions and 3,000 legal and conveyancing firms
- Australia’s housing market is the nation’s largest asset class, worth over $6.7 trillion^
More information can be found at a www.pexa.com.au
*Subject to seller’s financial institution
^Source: CoreLogic RD Data Housing Market and Economic Update, September 2016
