Doesn’t time fly?
Twenty years ago this year I was buying my current house and the transaction was taking forever. I asked my conveyancer what the holdup was and he told me it was the local searches. I had no idea what was involved but after he explained it to me I asked if I could get the information personally. He explained the legalities and the statutory rights I had to access the information and off I went to Wallasey Town Hall accompanied by my son Malcolm who is a lot more diligent than I am.
When we arrived at Land Charges we were greeted by startled reactions from the staff who had never had a request to view the registers before and didn’t believe our claims to have a statutory right to view and take notes. Enquiries were made of the legal department which confirmed our right of access but stated we would need to pay for the privilege. We disputed this but paid under protest. At that moment we identified a business opportunity and the rest, as they say, is history.
This also started a long running battle for access to council and water company records which was only won in 2011 with the second tier tribunal appeal by Kirklees – V – Pali which went in our favour. This was the last of many tribunal and court appearances which revolutionised the conveyancing process. With the innovation and IT solutions invented by Pali the whole process was speeded up and is unrecognisable compared to the slow, manual, paper based and expensive service offered by local authorities.
It is now a fast, slick, fully automated operation for users of the Pali platform. From the entering of the address a detailed quote for the conveyancing is provided to the client which includes all the searches recommended by the system. If accepted the searches are automatically ordered and delivered and on completion the SDLT and AP1 are electronically sent to Land Registry and the receipts and confirmation electronically returned to the conveyancer. The time savings are significant and the whole process is more accurate and stress free. What a difference from the service offered by the councils.
From the father and son walking into a council to view the register to a whole industry operating nationwide delivering innovation and technology to conveyancers. I wonder what the next twenty years will look like?
Nick Small Snr
Pali Ltd
