From South Africa to the suburbs... the latest Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes property market digital transformation specialists e4 Strategic on to discuss the property market evolution achieved in their native South Africa, and how they are now looking at what can be done to introduce similar initiatives in the UK.

Joining podcast host David Opie is e4 Strategic CEO Simon Slater to discuss the origins of the business in turning a very analogue process in the country into a fully digital workflow environment. During his 20+ years with the business he has overseen the development of a platform that today connects all major stakeholders involved in a South African property transaction. This includes the “Big Six” mortgage lenders, virtually all conveyancing firms in the country, major municipalities, tax authorities, and the Deeds Office – South Africa’s equivalent of HM Land Registry. Referencing the discussions happening in the UK, this deep integration means that South African transactions benefit from a unified flow of data. Lenders, conveyancers, and government bodies all access the same information, much of it fed through the infrastructure developed by e4. The result is real‑time visibility across the entire workflow, from mortgage offer to final registration.

But, like others who have come to the UK from other jurisdictions, Slater acknowledges the structural differences between the South African and UK home‑moving markets Although the South African conveyancing system shares roots in English law, there are notable differences. For example, property offers are binding at the outset, much like in Scotland, removing some of the uncertainty familiar to practitioners in England and Wales.

When e4 arrived in the UK in 2021, Slater and his team quickly identified a familiar opportunity: improving the relationship between lenders and conveyancers by digitising the core interactions that sit at the heart of every transaction. At present, these interactions are overwhelmingly reliant on slow, manual channels. Email remains the dominant tool, often burdened with long PDF attachments and cumbersome document trails. Lenders receive “thousands” of post‑valuation queries every month, with conveyancers equally frustrated by the lack of clarity and response times.

In the time since the property market has moved to become much more receptive to change in Slater's view. Momentum is being driven by: government consultations on home‑moving reform; lender concern about the financial impact of fall‑throughs (estimated at £1.5bn annually); the growing recognition that digitisation is no longer optional; and an industry‑wide desire for transparency and performance metrics.

E4 aims to provide the digital infrastructure that can support this shift: a central platform enabling real‑time communication, structured workflows, secure document exchanges, and data‑driven decision‑making.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

Thank you to our podcast sponsor LEAP Legal Software.

In the first of the regular series with Rob Gurney and Ben Robinson, the Today's Conveyancer once again delves into the latest numbers from Landmark's Property Trends report, looking at the final quarter of 2025.

In a year of two halves, the first half of 2025 was characterised by strong transaction numbers , driven in part by the stamp duty‑related push to progress home moves ahead of the 31st March deadline, and optimism surrounding the relatively newly elected government.

The second half told a different story, as uncertainty around the Budget led many sellers to hesitate, with falling listings and reduced supply and demand contributing to widespread asking price reductions reported by major portals.

But before we get too doom and gloom, it is worth reminding ourselves of the context of the time. New lawyer instructions in Q4 2025 were 17 per cent lower than the same period in 2024, with November alone down 25 per cent year on year. However comparisons to a market artificially inflated by the rush to complete ahead of the SDLT deadline do not compare apples with apples says Gurney.

And when completions are examined, the picture looks less severe, with Q4 2025 completions down only 6 per cent year on year; with December a standout month with the highest number of completions per working day in any month of the year apart from SDLT-influenced March.

The completions‑to‑instructions ratio reached 121 per cent, one of the highest on record, reflecting both subdued new instructions and an extraordinary pre‑Christmas effort to clear pipelines. However, he warns this year‑end surge inevitably left firms entering January with smaller, less mature pipelines, contributing to a quieter start to 2026. Focusing on the underlying numbers rather than headline comparisons will be essential as the market moves through the first quarter of 2026.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

Thank you to our podcast sponsor LEAP Legal Software.

In the first episode of the latest series of the Today's Conveyancer Podcast, host David Opie dives into the fast‑evolving world of digital property logbooks joined by Sally Holdway, Director of Homeowners Passport and Sale & Purchase Lead at the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA), and Nigel Walley, CEO of Chimni and Chair of the RLBA.

Recorded in the run up to the end of the government's home buying and selling consultation, the discussion explores a view of home moving with property logbooks at the heart of the transaction.

Both Sally and Nigel explain how much of the work done by the RLBA has flown under the radar. While public momentum around logbooks may have seemed slow, Nigel makes it clear that providers have been quietly building the infrastructure for years. Over half a million logbooks are already in circulation, with estate agents and conveyancers steadily adopting them.

Success though will be reliant on the information contained in logbooks being 'conveyancer grade' adds Sally; accurate, trusted, and sourced to the same standards conveyancers rely on. That means Land Registry feeds, LLC1 data, and protocol‑compliant forms - not lightweight consumer tools

Its a core theme of government's consultation on material information and digital sale packs. Both highlight how logbooks sit at the centre of this shift. Digital sale‑ready packs built from title documents, plans, leases, and protocol forms allow conveyancers to issue contracts the same day an offer is accepted. Time savings of up to 20% are already being recorded.

And then there is the long term value not just in terms of an archive for the property data, but also a foundation for an ongoing relationship with their conveyancer. This is the modern equivalent of the old deeds store; only smarter, searchable, and always up to date.

If conveyancers want efficiency, reduced risk, and stronger client retention, the message from the RLBA is clear: logbooks are no longer emerging, they’re here.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

Thank you to our podcast sponsor LEAP Legal Software.