Digital AP1 - six things every conveyancing firm needs to know

AP1s are going completely digital in 2022, ensure your firm is across everything they need to know to prepare for the change.

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HMLR recently announced the landmark decision to mandate all register applications to be digitally submitted from Autumn 2022. This means law firms will no longer be able to upload AP1 forms, they will have to complete everything online. This change is ultimately designed to make the process work more quickly and smoothly, but it will involve a substantial change for most conveyancers. While it might feel like there’s plenty of time to migrate to digital AP1s, it’s never too early to familiarise your team with the process and prepare for the change.

What does your firm need to know to ensure you’re digital AP1 ready in 2022?

1. Paper forms are disappearing

From November 2022, paper forms for applications to change the register will no longer exist. Approximately 80% of the industry still submits some sort of paper form, whether that’s uploading a scanned document or PDF, or putting them in the post. If your firm currently populates a paper form and scans it in to submit or if you complete a PDF from the matter within your case management system, you are going to require a new process, or you won’t be able to submit. What does this involve? You will need to set up a new digital process, either by using the HM Land Registry’s DRS directly or by working with a specialist software provider that uses the HM Land Registry's Business Gateway to provide this service to you.

What does this involve? You will need to set up a new digital process with HM Land Registry’s DRS or through an integrated software supplier. InfoTrack has been providing a digital AP1 service to law firms for five years. More than 1,100 firms already use our system and have submitted over half a million digital applications through our platform. As the leading provider for a digital AP1 solution submitted to the Land Registry, making the switch to digital AP1 applications with us is quick and easy.

2. Get familiar with validations

Validations are a way to make sure that the right information is entered into the right place on the form. This ensures the HMLR caseworker can process the application quickly and with minimal questions. Online systems may not work with information that doesn’t meet the validations criteria which is why we give you a helping hand throughout with tips and form logic. Paper forms never had this, so traditionally people have been able to submit any information on the forms and rely on the caseworker to figure it out. When information is incomplete or incorrect the HMLR caseworker will raise a requisition. If you don’t understand the validations in the digital systems it could slow down submitting and result in more requisitions, which will slow down processing the application. To reduce the risk of this happening, you should become familiar with the standard requirements and the validations required by HMLR in the digital platforms.

To make this easier for you, InfoTrack helps validate your titles, SDLT thresholds, registration type match, missing fields, role types, and more with our automatic checks to minimise the possibility of delays or even cancellation.

3. Prepare for changing fee calculations

The Land Registry has also announced fee changes that come into effect from January 2022. To prepare for this change, firms will need to ensure systems are updated for quoting, accounting, and how you calculate fees. Currently, the HMLR fee bands are not synced with firm calculators, meaning users will have to review a table in the practice guide to manually determine which fees will be applicable for files that are now being onboarded. This could cause difficulties related to reconciliation and billing if fees are different when firms lodge the AP1 later down the line. How can firms address this? The process is going to involve preparation work by firms to ensure they are ready for the fee changes, so they are applied from the effective date.

4. Consider your requisition management process

Requisitions are a pain point for many during the AP1 process, and although we can do things to reduce them, they’ll always be an important part of processing applications. Simply managing and tracking requisitions can be a time-consuming and complex job, one that lots of firms still perform manually. This process obviously carries an ongoing risk of missing deadlines. Transitioning to new digital AP1 submissions will mean firms also need to change how they manage their requisitions.

InfoTrack’s AP1 dashboard makes the management, submission, and monitoring of AP1 applications intuitive and easy. You can track each application and benefit from task lists and reminders. We've included a built-in ‘WhatsApp-style’ messaging solution to liaise with your Land Registry caseworker directly in relation to any requisitions, as well as being able to upload additional documentation within a single online platform. Over the past five years, we’ve helped our clients reduce their requisition rates by 30% on average and avoid missed deadlines.

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5. Evaluate your AP1 draft and approval process

Often a post-completion team will assign certain different people internally with the role of drafting, reviewing and ultimately submitting applications. When the forms move online the process for doing this will need to adapt by firms. Currently, the Land Registry’s DRS doesn’t allow multiple users with different login to review the same applications. Firms will need to work out how to review applications made online, whilst ensuring they do not duplicate or lose data, which would obviously cause serious delays.

Our interactive AP1 management system provides firm-wide transparency across all AP1 applications to ensure post-completion teams can easily locate and process applications. This includes the ability to allocate different tasks to different team members including drafting and approving.

6. Start training now

We’re confident that this new system will improve the accuracy of submissions, help reduce requisitions and ultimately speed up the process but, you can never be too prepared. To get ahead of the deadline, firms must ensure their teams are ready for the migration to completely digital AP1 applications. This means working with the new systems, setting up new processes, and training the people involved. We know from experience that this takes time, so we’d urge all firms to start organising themselves around the new digital approach sooner rather than later.

With more than half a million AP1s submitted digitally via InfoTrack since 2016, we’re the leading provider that can help you navigate the changes in a way that will actually improve the way you work. Not only will you have access to a tried and tested system that can pre-populate up to 90% of the AP1 for you, we can also integrate with over a dozen leading case management systems to make like even easier. And to support you in making the change we'll provide a dedicated account manager, free training, and access to expert helpdesk advisers every step of the way.

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