Posted by: Valerie Chagnon-Couture
I recently attended the Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) launch event for Queensland. PEXA will revolutionise the way that property transfer settlements take place. Through PEXA, settlements will take place on an electronic platform and will no longer require that all parties come together in one location to exchange documents and settlement cheques.
The PEXA platform was created in
collaboration with representatives from the Land Registry, Banks and Financials
Institutions, The Office of State Revenue, Property Lawyers and Conveyancers as
well as the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Bankers' Association. Upon considering the large number of parties
involved, it is understandable that the platform has taken some time to be
finalised.
PEXA has already launched in New South
Wales, Victoria and Western Australia and has received positive feedback from
all parties involved. While it has
launched in Queensland, currently only settlement notices and caveats can be
lodged through the platform. The revised
duties legislation is currently before Parliament and is expected to be
presented at the next sitting. Once the
revised duties legislation is passed, property transfers will be able to be
performed through the PEXA platform.
PEXA will allow for Titles Office documents
to be signed electronically instead of passed around various parties for
signatures and will allow for electronic lodgements of these documents with the
Titles Office. PEXA will also immediately
transfer settlement funds electronically between financial institutions and
solicitors' trust accounts removing the need for bank cheques to be drawn and
delivered at settlement.
PEXA will also be launching a mobile application
which clients can download to their smartphones. This app will provide real time updates in
relation to the progress of client's transactions.
Along with many other legal practitioners,
we enthusiastically look forward to the launch of PEXA property transfers as
the PEXA platform will allow us as a registered user to provide our clients
with faster, safer and more efficient settlements and fewer disbursements in
their property transactions. Persons
having an interest in this are free to contact me on 3234 3105 or valerie@anderssens.com.au. Otherwise, watch this space for formal
announcements as to the launch of the PEXA platform for property transfers.
