Use of electronic signatures is very low at the UK’s Land Registry, but bringing in new digital components is about “redesigning the customer journey,” believes one real estate consultancy.
Only two businesses submitted Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) since His Majesty’s Land Registry permitted their use last August. But just one e-signature was used by the close of 2025 and that number has risen to five in the first quarter of this year.
The figures illustrate a familiar challenge in digital identity adoption: the technology may be available, but usage often remains limited until broader ecosystems of digital identity, trust frameworks, data sharing and workflow integration are in place.
A consultancy for the home buying and selling industry, Novus Strategy, discovered the HMLR figures using a Freedom of Information request, reports Modern Lender. Novus CEO Claire Van der Zant predicts adoption will show a “hockey stick” growth curve, with a slow start followed by a surge.
“QES is just one of the components that unlocks interoperability in the property transaction,” she told Modern Lender. “Lenders, conveyancers and every organization involved should be actively assessing where data and processes cause friction and break the customer journey.”
The executive referred to it as the “configuration conundrum all firms are having to navigate” and believes a customer journey involving digital components, smart data and orchestration infrastructure would lead to naturally rising QES use.
The majority of HMLR’s clients are conveyancing companies and the slow adoption demonstrates how the mortgage and home buying industry must adapt their operations and customer journey, the publication argued.
The challenge goes beyond electronic signatures. The UK property sector is attempting to build a broader digital infrastructure for property transactions, including trusted digital identity, interoperable data sharing and digital property records. As part of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology’s (CFIT) Open Property initiative, industry participants have proposed a Digital Property ID that would serve as an authoritative record and single source of truth for buyers, sellers and service providers.
Modern Lender argued that the market for digital ID providers remains immature, with relatively few solutions integrating qualified e-signatures.
Organizations will have to implement Horizontal Digital Integration (HDI), an operational framework that brings infrastructure into a coherent whole, so that interoperability and data can flow. This will mean lenders, conveyancers, brokers and estate agents will have to work together, the editorial said.
An example of digital integration is Entrust embedding its QES into the KYC platform Veyco, a UK-based property fraud prevention company. Entrust and Veyco’s e-signature product is already used by Nationwide Building Society, which is one of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders.
CFIT’s Open Property roadmap charts the way forward
The UK’s Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) published its Open Property roadmap last month, highlighting how Smart Data usage is at an embryonic stage. Novus was among the public and private sector organizations that contributed to the roadmap.
Van der Zant commented that there’s still a lack of integrated digital ID solutions, making it harder for conveyancers if they’re to use QES. But the potential remains, as the executive compared it to Open Banking, which had low uptake in its first three years before rising significantly thereafter.
“What you’re witnessing here is the birth of a new way of executing the most complex consumer transaction on Earth, and QES is just one small part of that,” she said.
The broader vision for that transformation is outlined in CFIT’s Open Property roadmap, which seeks to create the digital identity, data-sharing and trust infrastructure needed to modernize property transactions.
In the Open Property roadmap, Lesley Horton, chief ombudsman for The Property Ombudsman, said that verified and connected data is a very powerful tool for consumer protection. “A Digital Property ID that establishes an authoritative record to provide a single source of truth should enable more transparent, faster transactions and ultimately reduce consumer disputes.”
CFIT CEO Anna Wallace said as regulators and industry align on Open Property, the roadmap shows the commitment on transformation that will deliver “real benefits for the millions of people who buy, sell, and move home each year.”
Among the roadmap’s recommendations is developing a shared property identity and transaction visibility capability, such as dashboards, that make it easier for consumers and professionals; and aligning existing identifiers via a consistent approach, instead of creating a single unified identifier.
Establishing technical standards is another recommendation, echoing the interoperability, technical and regulatory alignments that often occur in digital transformation and DPI initiatives. Like such programs, the CFIT sets out a governance, trust and operating model, putting forward a shared trust framework and making sure such things as consent, APIs, and data quality are consistent.
The roadmap cited Australia’s PEXA, Singapore’s MyInfo, Denmark’s digital land registration and the European Union’s upcoming Digital Identity Wallets under the eIDAS 2.0 framework as international examples that the coalition has considered and discussed in the preparation of the digital property ID pathway.
Article Topics
Centre for Finance Innovation and Technology (CFIT) | digital ID | electronic-signature | land registry | Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) | real estate | trust framework | UK digital ID
