Joint effort

The National E-Conveyancing Development Limited (NECDL) is designing Australia's electronic conveyancing system. One of its first tasks is to evaluate the Victorian system as to whether it, or substantial parts of it can form the basis of a single national system. If not Au$50 million will have been wasted. The system has been boycotted by the big banks, which want a single national system, and by solicitors, who fear it will expose them to additional liability. Anecdotally, the problems are not technical in nature but stem from lack of recognition, which if so, could help the NECDL reach its target of having a new system in place by January 2012.

Alan Cameron, chairman of the company said that: "We may ask the banks -- they are the most likely source -- but we may also ask state lands offices and state lands registries to lend us people as well. I would think we would have an early conversation with the banks to identify quite clearly what their reservations are" about the Victorian system. "They are the major technical players in this -- more than the conveyancers and the lawyers," he added.

Article on the Australian