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The National Land Information Service (NLIS) is a government initiative to automate and integrate the provision of land and property information. It enables solicitors to send and receive conveyancing searches from a desktop computer, accessing all the search information providers needed. As well as speeding up the search process, NLIS also delivers greater certainty in property description and a more efficient method of identifying relevant searches.
The NLIS services and the infrastructure have been built, financed and are operated by the private sector. Three private sector companies have received an operating license from government to operate a "channel" to the NLIS. My company, NLIS Searchflow, is one of these.
The information requests emanate from conveyancers as part of their due diligence. They lodge these requests by accessing a channel web site and they complete a process that simply requires an address and client reference but then provides a mechanism to confirm the address, obtain a map and order all relevant searches. The completed search request(s) then flow to the hub which distributes them to the relevant information provider. The resultant search reports are returned using the same route in reverse.
Whilst the channel and hub operations are fully automated, many of the information providers available via NLIS are not. However, this need not concern the conveyancer who simply puts in a request and obtains the results.
The NLIS channels opened for business in the late summer of 2001. Every local authority has by now processed searches sent through NLIS with almost 50% connected electronically. Over 200,000 searches in total have been processed through NLIS and volume growth is currently between 30% and 40% a month. From a standing start NLIS already accounts for 10% of the market for searches with over 1,200 firms signed up to the service.
The greater certainty and efficiency of the process is derived from: -
1. Using a national gazetteer of property and the national map data-set (scale 1:1250) to provide a means of obtaining and validating an unambiguous description of land or property for search purposes. In order to perform address validation before the search request is sent, thereby reducing the risk of search request rejection or a search against the wrong property, the NLIS channels have incorporated searchable databases of addresses. The National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) is a separate initiative to provide a standard de facto gazetteer and NLIS channels will be early adopters of NLPG. Clearly, a gazetteer that is shared by all parties to NLIS will provide greater certainty that the validated address will match an address against which information is held by search providers. This will significantly reduce search request rejection and ambiguity.
2. Using maps and spatial polygons (the "red-lined" area delineated by the conveyancer to describe the extent of the search area) to identify search information sources that may hold information relevant to the land or property. This is achieved by "cookie cutting" the property polygon (the "red-lined" search extent) automatically created from the address, through search information provider jurisdiction polygons (the area over which they hold information described as a shape on a map) .
3. Providing an efficient and easy method of ordering, tracking and extracting conveyancing search information from a web site via a desktop computer.
The process is not just about automation and integration of the distribution channel but is also about efficiency and certainty. For example, both address validation and the identification of relevant searches are benefits that the conveyancer derives from NLIS regardless of data provider take-up or speed of distribution.
Many firms now have extremely efficient in-house systems for case management. However, the conveyancing search process, pre-NLIS, sat largely outside these systems. Even now, many firms will put together teams of secretaries, paralegals and trainee solicitors to prepare search requests on large commercial portfolios. The result of an independent study from legal consultancy Practical Solutions demonstrates the scale of time savings possible. For example, the study estimates a minimum saving of 42 hours on 50 conveyances a month up to a minimum saving of 208 hours on 250 conveyances a month.
To be truly efficient, NLIS needs to link seamlessly with other conveyancing applications such as case management systems. It is quite simply really, you do not want to have to enter the same information more than once, i.e. into different applications, both because it uses up resources and because this leaves room for error. For that reason the NLIS channels have developed the means to accept data in XML format from other software applications to avoid double entry and transcription errors when requesting searches. This means that the address and client reference can be applied automatically to the search process from the originating case management package. In addition, confirmation, search tracking and billing information can be streamed back into the case management package.
Beyond providing an integrated case management solution, the next step for the NLIS channels is to work with HMLR to deliver an e-conveyancing facility. NLIS is now widely recognized as the first step that the conveyancer needs to take in the e-conveyancing revolution. While NLIS is launched and operating, the other elements of e-conveyancing are still on the launch-pad, having just completed a consultation process.
There are three particular challenges that remain for NLIS. The first challenge is its speed of development. It will take time for all the local authorities to modernise fully and to provide rapid electronic searches. Having said that, conveyancers are getting searches back now though NLIS from some local authorities within hours (as opposed to the 10 days it typically takes for a postal search). The record is currently 13 minutes.
The second challenge is the level of technical capability within the law firm relating to the electronic transmission of data. A surprisingly large number of firms have inadequate bandwidth and inappropriate security settings.
The final and greatest challenge for NLIS is converting the conveyancing search process from an offline to an online community. Once law firms have been convinced that NLIS provides a "best practice" opportunity, they should seize that opportunity by changing the way they work.
Mark Riddick has spent 20 years providing conveyancing searches. He founded the Property Search Agency in 1983 and Searchflow in the mid nineties. He is Chief Executive Officer of NLIS Searchflow, www.searchflow.co.uk.
email mark.riddick@searchflow.co.uk.
Useful links:
NLIS - www.nlis.org.uk
NLPG - www.nlpg.org.uk
NLIS Searchflow - www.searchflow.co.uk
TM NLIS Search - www.tmproperty.co.uk
Transaction Online www.transaction-online.co.uk
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