In this article
Background
Legatics has undertaken research involving a broad spectrum of users and innovation teams within Real Estate groups. Through this research, we've discovered that Lawyers across our customer base are increasingly turning to Legatics to manage their real estate transactions, in particular the 'Enquiries on Title' process: efficiently and effectively.
This article outlines our findings about Real Estate transactions focusing on 'Enquiries on Title'.
✍️ What does Enquiries on Title mean?
The enquiries process is an integral part of Real Estate transactions involving the buying and selling of property. Enquiries are one of the earliest steps in the conveyancing process, raised after the buyer’s conveyancer receives the contract paperwork from the seller’s conveyancer. On the buyer side, inquiries are raised to gain a deeper understanding of the property, and these inquiries necessitate responses from the seller side. The buyer side conducts initial due diligence and raises enquiries, usually using a standard form set of questions endorsed by the British Property Foundation called "Commercial Property Standard Enquiries" ("CPSEs").
Types of enquiries may include:
Title and Ownership Verification: Enquiries regarding the property’s title and deeds, confirming that the seller legally owns the property and has the right to sell it, and the boundaries and their maintenance
Structural Enquiries: Checking if there are any known structural problems with the property (such as damp or subsidence) and checking whether any building work done had the necessary planning permission and other approvals
Local Authority Searches: to check whether there are any records of planning or local issues that could affect the property
Leasehold Enquiries: If the property is a leasehold, how long is left on the lease? Checking the terms of the lease are correct and the arrangements for management and repair of the building in which the property sits.
Environmental Enquiries: Checking if the property is at risk from any past potentially contaminative uses of the land
Services (such as gas, electric, and water)
Fixtures and Fittings: Confirming which things are included in the sale
Easements and Covenants: Are there any rights of way over the property, or any restrictions on what can be done with the property? Also confirming the property has the benefit of the rights that are needed to use the property (such as rights of way and rights for services)
Disputes: Have there been any disputes or any complaints about the property?
As part of the process, the Seller's lawyer will provide a contract pack, this pack generally includes a contract, copies of the deeds to the property, a title plan, and replies from the Seller giving answers to some standard questions about the Property. The Buyer's lawyer will generally arrange for searches to be ordered which will reveal matters affecting the Property including road and sewer adoption, planning and building regulations, environmental issues, past underground mining and other matters.
When the full due diligence exercise has been completed and the buyer is happy that they have the answers to all of their questions, the contract is signed and exchanged, the deposit is paid and completion date agreed.
💼 How is this process managed outside of Legatics?
Traditionally, this process is handled using tools or applications like Microsoft Excel. The buyer side conducts initial due diligence and raises enquiries, prompting the seller to populate a spreadsheet.
This spreadsheet organises responses, dates, and links to associated files. Typically, this responsibility falls on a trainee or junior staff lawyer, who manages the information received via email by copying and pasting replies and tracking the status and related documents.
👎Pain points
Time-consuming: Setting up and managing the spreadsheet manually is time-intensive.
Risk of errors: Copying and pasting emails to a spreadsheet increases the chance of missing information or miscalculating responses - the principle of caveat emptor or "buyer beware" means the onus is on the buyer to ask the right questions to the seller.
Version control challenges: Managing document versions sent via email is complex.
💼 How can Legatics be used to manage this process?
List Template Creation: Users can create a list template with all the necessary columns and statuses for the enquiries process.
Data Import: Utilise Legatics' import tool, often through the Excel import feature, to bring initial enquiries into Legatics.
Role Assignment: Users can assign roles and they can also use the status column to update items.
Collaboration and Permissions: Invite external and internal users to action items. directly within your deals using Legatics. Set permissions on lists, columns, and rows for controlled access.
Real-time Collaboration: All parties can log in to Legatics, respond to enquiries, raise further questions, upload supporting documents, and manage enquiry statuses.
Dashboard Usage: Utilise the dashboard to review the transaction's status.
📈 Key benefits of using Legatics
Time Saved:
Use templates to avoid manual copying and pasting from emails or spreadsheets.
Enable all parties to input directly, eliminating the need for a designated person for data entry.
Improved Clarity:
Real-time updates in Legatics ensure everyone has the latest information.
The dashboard provides an overview, reducing the need for additional documentation during meetings.
Version Control:
All versions are uploaded to Legatics, eliminating confusion from email exchanges.
Full audit trail for tracking document uploads, revisions, and contributors.
Error Reduction:
Responses directly added to Legatics reduce the risk of misallocation or mistakes.
The audit trail provides transparency for correcting errors when they occur.
✏️ How can I get started?
We encourage you to set up a demo matter first and work with your Real Estate colleagues to create lists in Legatics and import data from your Word or Excel files.
Then you can turn those lists into templates so that you can use them again and again. This will help save you time when setting up new lists within new matters!
You're ready to create a live matter and start managing your Real Estate transactions in Legatics!
Customisation for your firm and deal team
Free Text and Comments: Recognise that the template can be enhanced by incorporating free text or comments columns. This allows law firms to capture additional details or notes relevant to specific enquiries.
Status Columns: Tailor the template to your unique workflow by adding or adjusting status columns. This customisation ensures that the Enquiries Tracker aligns seamlessly with your firm's internal processes.
Columns and statuses can be set up within the list template meaning that you only need to do this once. Later, within the live matter, users can make changes to columns and statuses as and when required to suit the deal requirements.
⚙️Managing Visibility with Permissions
Fine-tune Access: We understand that different teams or individuals within your law firm and external participants may require different levels of access. Leverage Legatics' powerful permission settings to control visibility at various levels – from the entire list down to individual columns.
Optimised Collaboration: By managing visibility, you can optimise collaboration within your team, allowing relevant stakeholders access to the information they need without unnecessary clutter.
Granular permissions can be applied on a list level within each live matter to ensure that all confidential information can be kept private from each organisation.
If you have any further questions, please get in touch with us at support@legatics.com