The online portal will enable secured e-payment and digitised documents and signatories for conveyancing process for all types of properties by 2026

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA)’s Digital Conveyancing Portal (DCP) has reached a new milestone with the appointment of a vendor to develop the online platform over three phases. This was announced by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong SC today at the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Innovation Challenge Award Ceremony.

Digitalising a paper-based conveyancing process

2. Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring ownership title of a property from the registered proprietor to another party. This has remained a largely manual and paper-based process over the years. Currently, law firms, financial institutions, real estate companies and developers, as well as government agencies involved in the conveyancing process work individually on a paper-based manual process to complete a property sale/purchase.

3. The DCP will streamline the current paper-based conveyancing process and transform it into a fully integrated, efficient, transparent and paperless digital conveyancing process for all property transactions in Singapore.

4. When fully implemented in 2026, the DCP will be made available to both public and private housing, as well as commercial and industrial properties. Users can look forward to a paperless and more efficient conveyancing experience, as the DCP will enable property transactions to be completed digitally from end-to-end, including facilitating e-payments and submitting digitised documents. They can also look forward to easier and more convenient access to information relating to their property transactions as they will be able to retrieve details and check for updates via the DCP.

5. Apart from buyers and sellers, the DCP will make it more efficient for other stakeholders involved in the conveyancing process such as lawyers, financial institutions, real estate agents, developers and property buyers and sellers, by reducing the time and effort taken for the administrative processes in conveyancing. For example, property agents can better track the progress of the property transactions under their charge. Currently, this is a manual process, whereby they will need to check directly with the seller/buyer or the lawyers acting for the seller/buyer.

Progressive development and implementation of the DCP over three phases

6. SLA and the appointed vendor, Tech Mahindra Limited (Singapore Branch), will progressively develop and implement the DCP over three phases.

7. The first phase will comprise the Option-to-Purchase (OTP) stage for developer sale, resale and sub-sale transactions, and this phase is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2024.

8. The second phase will cover the pre-completion and completion stages for developer sale transactions, and the third phase will cover the pre-completion and completion stages for resale and sub-sale transactions. The DCP is expected to be fully developed and completed by 2026.

9. SLA is working with the Housing & Development Board (HDB) to integrate the DCP workstreams to digitalise the conveyancing process, including facilitating e-payments and digitising legal documents for HDB property transactions, where feasible. SLA has also been working closely with other government agencies and engaging key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to develop the DCP. SLA will continue to engage and seek feedback to ensure the DCP remains useful for all stakeholders and users.

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Issued by:

The Singapore Land Authority

26 January 2023

Annex

Digital Conveyancing Portal (DCP) at a Glance:

Conveyancing, the legal process of transferring ownership title of a property from the registered proprietor to another party is a largely manual, paper-based and complex multi-step process.
As a one-stop online platform, the DCP will streamline the current conveyancing process and transform it into a fully integrated, efficient, transparent and paperless digital conveyancing process for all property transactions in Singapore. This will include facilitating e-payments and submitting digitised documents.
When fully implemented in 2026, the DCP will be made available to cover both public and private housing, as well as commercial and industrial properties.
The DCP aims to bring efficiencies to all stakeholders involved in the conveyancing process from lawyers, financial institutions, real estate agents, developers and property buyers and sellers.

The DCP Journey

The idea for the DCP was first conceptualised in 2019, as part of Singapore’s broader effort to transform government digital services used by both citizens and businesses, and thus create a more digitally empowered nation.

The conveyancing practice has remained unchanged for more than 50 years and remains a complex and paper-based process of multiple steps, including the pre-contract, contract, financing arrangement, pre-completion, legal completion, and post-completion steps. Each step requires the completion of several tasks, and involves multiple parties across both public and private sectors.

These multiple parties, as key stakeholders in the conveyancing ecosystem, were progressively engaged over several years to seek input and feedback on their conveyancing experiences, which led the careful study of appropriate development platforms. The development of the DCP has since evolved into a multi-agency effort led by SLA, involving consultations with both private and public sector stakeholders, such as Council of Estate Agencies (CEA), Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), Law Society, Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS), Ministry of Law, Government Technology Agency, Housing & Development Board (HDB), Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).

Today, the DCP has reached a new milestone with the appointment of a vendor to develop the online platform over three phases, with the first phase targeted for implementation by Q2 2024 and to be fully completed by 2026.

Involving Multiple Stakeholder Engagements

Since 2019, SLA has progressively engaged the various stakeholders of the conveyancing process, though platforms ranging from one-to-one meetings to large-scale dialogue sessions.

Besides public sector stakeholders, SLA also engaged key industry stakeholders such as law firms, real estate developers, real estate agencies and financial institutions. In the second half of 2022 alone, SLA conducted five dialogue sessions to engage over 180 conveyancing lawyers and paralegals. SLA will continue to engage and seek feedback to ensure the DCP remains useful for all stakeholders and users.

Many of the stakeholders welcome the digital transformation of the conveyancing process and look forward to the efficiencies that a one-stop, transparent, paperless portal can bring.

A New Milestone in Advancing the Conveyancing Process through Technology

With the DCP, new digital practices for the purchase and sale of property transactions will evolve to become the new normal. In addition to streamlining processes for all public and private stakeholders involved in the current conveyancing ecosystem, it will provide a seamless citizen centric service. The DCP’s development and full implementation by 2026 is expected to benefit:

Property Buyers & Sellers – Providing convenient and direct access to information relating to property transactions, including retrieval of details, and checking for updates via one trusted platform.
Solicitors – To save time and effort, by seeking their clients’ signature digitally, submission of digitised documents and arranging e-payments of the transaction price, over a secured platform.
Property Agents – To track progress of property transactions under their charge through the DCP, instead of manually checking in with the seller or buyer, or their solicitors.