Millions of people across England and Wales can now sign their mortgage deeds online, as high street lenders sign up to use the service.
As well as making it easier to remortgage, HM Land Registry is also looking to the future through its Digital Street research project and has successfully used a blockchain prototype to show how buying a home can be made simpler and quicker.
People are doing an ever-increasing amount online, from shopping to banking, e-learning to gaming. Now they can remortgage their home online as it’s quicker, more convenient, and fits their busy lives.
HM Land Registry’s digital transformation is continuing to make it easier for homebuyers by embracing new technologies like blockchain, enabling them to become the world’s leading land registry.
Digital mortgage
One year on from the signing of the UK’s first digital mortgage deed, HM Land Registry’s digital service ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ is now being offered by major high street lenders.
The digital service enables people to sign their mortgage whenever and wherever they are, including on their phone or computer. It removes the need for ‘wet’ (pen-on-paper) signatures, and witnesses no longer need to be present when the documents are signed. Homeowners no longer face delays from having to print out forms, find an independent third party to witness their signature, and pay to return the forms by post.
Nationwide, HSBC, RBS and NatWest and Atom Bank were among the first mortgage lenders to sign up, allowing their customers to use the new service. More people are applying for their mortgages using paperless processes and HM Land Registry’s free service brings the sector one step closer to an end-to-end paperless process.