Modernising mortgages: first 'digital mortgage' signed for house in Rotherhithe, London

A new ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ service means borrowers will be able to digitally sign their deeds online and speed up the re-mortgaging process.
Alamy Stock Photo
Lizzie Rivera11 April 2018

The first digital mortgage has been signed for a house in Rotherhithe, south-east London and entered into the Land Register — an indication that the home-buying process could at last be simplified using modern technology.

In a significant first step, borrowers will be able to log in to an online account to sign their mortgage deed online, at a time and place that suits them.

As any home owner knows, there is a huge amount of paperwork involved in the house buying process, which often needs to be filled in by hand and signed in front of a witness before being sent by post.

House prices in every London borough, March 2018

1/32

Even remortgaging your home, a much simpler process, can feel unnecessarily archaic as owners are required to fill out multiple forms by hand (often repeating information already supplied) and hunt for documents such as leases.

The new digital mortgage service allows borrowers to securely confirm their identity via GOV.UK Verify, which is already used for government services including online tax returns and benefits applications.

They can then log in and sign their mortgage deed — a legally binding document that transfers ownership of the property to the mortgage lender as security for the loan — without putting pen to paper.

Borrowers will also no longer require a witness to their signature and there'll be no risk of documents getting lost in the post.

The Land Registry said the move is part of wider efforts to simplify the home buying process.

The service is currently being tested out for home owners remortgaging, in a collaboration between HM Land Registry, Coventry Building Society, Enact Conveyancing and GOV.UK Verify.

But, once rolled out, the new ‘Sign your mortgage deed’ service will mean borrowers will be able to digitally sign their deed online and won’t have to get their signatures witnessed.

"We are looking forward to rolling this out nationally and will be working with more conveyancers and lenders to do so," says HM Land Registry chief executive and chief land registrar, Graham Farrant.

At the moment this service is only available with re-mortgages but it has the potential to be extended to purchases in the future.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in