Software provider MatterSphere has become the first legal case management provider to connect with the National Logbook Register, the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) has announced.
The integration will enable firms using MatterSphere to search the National Logbook Register as part of client onboarding for both sale and purchase clients to establish whether a logbook exists for the property.
Logbooks on the National Logbook Register conform to RLBA specifications and confirm that the identity of the user and their ownership of the property has been verified.
MatterSphere worked with multi-service law firm Cunningtons LLP to build the integration. Cunningtons already provides property logbooks on completion for several thousand property transactions each year and was looking for a way to automate the workflow, speed up the registration process and eliminate manual keying errors.
Jason Bradshaw, managing partner at Cunningtons, instructed the MatterSphere build via Expedite Law, which was also briefed to develop an API to trigger the automatic registration of logbooks with the National Deeds Depository at completion stage.
He explained: “Both the register and logbook integrations have been seamless and a great success. If a logbook exists, we can onboard the digital sales pack directly from it. If a logbook doesn’t exist, we create one automatically via MatterSphere.”
Gary Colclough, managing director of Expedite Law, said: “Keeping ahead of changes in conveyancing is central to what we do at Expedite Law. This MatterSphere integration shows how firms can use their existing case management system to adopt new digital workflows and prepare for what comes next.”
With logbooks part of the government’s home buying and selling reform roadmap, checking properties for existing logbooks should become standard, RLBA buying and selling lead Sally Holdway said.
“The look-up API enables estate agents and conveyancers to quickly check if there is an existing validated logbook for any given property at the start of a transaction,” she explained. “This needs to become a hygiene-factor step in the new world envisaged by MHCLG.”
