The Land Registry invited conveyancers to start using qualified electronic signatures (QES) at the beginning of August 2025, and firms can currently use them for charges, transfers and assents. In the first three months 1,194,439 applications of all kinds were received by the Land Registry from 5,964 firms. But only one QES was recorded in the three months from August.

Novus Strategy unearthed the finding through a Freedom of Information request, and says it shows that businesses have a configuration problem rather than a technology problem when it comes to adopting digital solutions.

Novus Strategy chief executive Claire Van der Zant says QES is a significant opportunity that is vital to the progress of the sector, but to be able to take advantage of QES, firms first need to redesign the customer journey and reconfigure their operations.

QES is part of a wider system called Horizontal Digital Integration (HDI). This is the framework that promises to transform the home buying and selling experience, with efficiencies gained through connected systems, trust frameworks and data standards.

HDI brings conveyancers, lenders, brokers and agents together in one joint effort to remove friction and shorten the time between offer to completion. But without the sector taking major steps towards introducing HDI, the use of e-signatures will be limited.

Van der Zant said: “We were surprised by the lack of uptake but there are practical reasons why adoption would be constrained.

“As consumers, we all understand what an e-signature is and how user-friendly this technology can be. However, for businesses in this space, the challenge is bigger than simply adopting new tools and adjusting internal processes.

“In the case of QES, adoption is impossible without an interoperable digital ID solution. And they will only work effectively alongside wider changes that reduce the friction in the data handoffs between different actors in the transaction.

“Conveyancers would point out there’s very little out there in the way of integrated solutions for QES at the moment, and they’d be right. There are almost no QES solutions that combine with that essential digital ID component.

“And more broadly, they need a strategy that enables data interoperability and trust frameworks beyond their vertical. This is what’s meant by Horizontal Digital Integration, and it involves redesigning the customer journey and reimagining how to connect with the wider ecosystem, solving issues like interoperability, trust and liability simultaneously.”