NSW to phase out property deal paperwork in e-conveyancing push
Paper certificates of title will be phased out in NSW by 2019 as the state accelerates the transition to electronic conveyancing for property deals.
Finance, Services and Property Minister Dominic Perrottet said as well as eliminating paperwork, e-conveyancing could reduce settlement delays and save business, government and the community up to $50 million a year.
“In 2016, the reality is most property transactions don’t need to be paper based when a cheaper, more reliable, more secure digital option is available,” Mr Perrottet said today.
The announcement comes on the same day the government named August 1 as the date when paper tickets would no longer be sold or accepted on NSW public transport.
By March 2017, financial institutions will be required to lodge certain mortgages and discharges of mortgage via the national e-conveyancing platform. Issuing paper certificates of title to banks will be phased out in the same period.
In June, in a first for the Australian property industry, the first housing transaction that was paperless from exchange to settlement was carried out for the sale of an apartment in Dee Why.
Australian Bankers’ Association chief executive Steven Münchenberg said the association supported a nationally consistent e-conveyancing system and would work with the government on its development.
“We look forward to other jurisdictions adopting similar considered approaches so there is a nationally consistent, co-ordinated and timely transition,” Mr Münchenberg said.
E-conveyancing was introduced in NSW in 2014 but paper-based channels still operate. The government plans to consult industry stakeholders, including representatives of financial institutions, legal practitioners and conveyancers, to work towards paperless deals.
“We are committed to working with all stakeholders to make sure they have the technical capacity, training and resources they need to adapt as conveyancing goes digital,” Mr Perrottet said.
Queensland introduced e-conveyancing in December 2015 using the federal government’s national PEXA property exchange system. WA starting using PEXA in September 2015.
In Victoria, all standalone discharges of mortgage and mortgages governed by the National Credit Code must be lodged online from August 1.
Electronic contracts were used in Sydney for the sale of apartments at Crown Group’s Infinity project at Green Square last August, saving an estimated 300,000 pieces of paper.
The NSW government is expected to consider the outcomes of the consultation and the next steps in the e-conveyancing transition in the final quarter of 2016.
