NECS - the benefits to all industry participants

Electronic / digital conveyancing, because of its nature,
• will provide industry participants with opportunities to organise their work and staffing needs more efficiently,
• to service a wider geographical distribution of transacting parties,
• to save time and expense preparing and correcting documentation, and
• to have greater confidence in the transaction process and in the other participants representing transacting parties.
These benefits will be greater the more an industry participant uses electronic conveyancing.

How will legal and conveyancing practices benefit?
Legal and conveyancing practices will benefit from opportunities to streamline their operations, saving staff time and expense through seamless integration with their case management systems. The information they already collect from their clients will be sent to the NECS and used to prepare the instruments required for the transaction.
• Paralegals and clerks will sign-on to the NECS through their in-house systems and ensure everything is in order for a legal practitioner or licensed conveyancer to certify and sign the instruments prior to the agreed time for settlement.
• Settlement will occur without having to obtain a bank cheque or send anyone to a pre-agreed location to exchange cheques and instruments.
• Lodgment will occur automatically after settlement without the need to instruct a lodging agent, and notification of lodgment will be received and recorded in in-house case management systems almost immediately.
• The conveyancing process will be completed much faster and with less effort.
It will be possible to handle many more transactions at the same time with no additional resources and to settle any number of matters on the same day.

How will financial institutions and other mortgage lenders benefit?
Financial institutions and other mortgage lenders will similarly benefit from opportunities to streamline their operations.
• The information many lenders already collect and have stored in their loan documentation systems will be automatically used through connections with NECS to populate workspaces and prepare instruments.
• Loans officers will sign-on to NECS through their in-house documentation systems and ensure everything is in order for a supervisor to certify and sign discharge of mortgage and/or new mortgage instruments prior to the agreed time for settlement.
• Settlement will occur without having to obtain a bank cheque or send anyone to a pre-agreed location to exchange cheques and instruments.
• Lodgment will occur automatically after settlement without the need to instruct a lodging agent, and notification of lodgment will be received and recorded in in-house documentation systems almost immediately.
• The process of documenting loans and lodging mortgages will be completed much faster with less effort and resources.
• The same number of staff will be able to handle a significantly greater number of loans and mortgages.
The full benefit of investments in in-house systems will be realised with straight-through processing to the Land Registry via NECS.

How will sole practitioners benefit?
Sole practitioners and small legal and conveyancer practices generally will benefit from the convenience and cost savings possible using NECS.
The practitioner will be able to complete all aspects of a conveyance without having to leave the office or having to use a courier or agent to deliver documents for client signing, to pick-up bank cheques, to attend settlement or to lodge instruments with the Land Registry.
They will be able to complete each conveyance and obtain these benefits using nothing more than an Internet browser. Alternatively, they can install and use one of a number of case management systems specially tailored by software development companies for legal and conveyancer practices.

How will the Land Registry benefit?
The Land Registry will benefit from lodgment of electronic instruments suitable for electronic examination and, ultimately, automatic registration. The electronic instruments will have been checked for consistency and completeness during preparation with opportunities for practitioners and lenders to make corrections on the spot. These checks and corrections during preparation will mean the Land Registry will not have to issue as many requisitions for additional or clarifying information during examination.

Source NSW NECS Update