For most people, property conveyancing is a black box where a property changes owners when the price is paid.
Conveyancing starts with signing a Contract for Sale. The Contract contains the price and how long it will be until settlement.
The property lawyer / conveyancer / settlement agent checks the title, the mortgagee checks the loan documents, and when they are satisfied, all is ready for settlement.
Settlement takes place on PEXA, which is a digital settlement platform.
At the settlement time, the title is locked for 15 minutes. The transfer of title and mortgage are checked. The funds are disbursed digitally. The transfer and mortgage are lodged digitally at the Lands Registry.
Paper Certificates of Title are no longer used for property transactions. They have been replaced by Verification of Identity (VOI). If you have a Certificate of Title, you can keep it as a memento.
In the video, we discuss how much better digital settlements are compared with paper based settlements.
Video link How does property conveyancing work?