Blog by Stef Brown, Senior product owner at Registers of Scotland.

Stephanie Brown from Registers of Scotland tells us exactly what you need to know about digital discharges.

Registers of Scotland (RoS) in conjunction with the Law Society of Scotland and Council of Mortgage Lenders has been reviewing the discharge process with the aim of introducing efficiencies to all parties by providing a streamlined process.  Similar activity has been successfully implemented in England and Wales and is now also taking place in Ireland.  This activity forms one part of the wider transformation programme undertaken by RoS to deliver improved services to our customers.

A team within RoS has been working with a range of solicitors and lenders to identify what will be needed from this service. The result is a streamlined workflow removing delay associated with the current paper process.  Within the digital service discharge requests will be initiated by solicitors and approved and submitted to RoS by lenders.  Parties will be notified by RoS of the removal of the mortgage deed from the land register.

Response from future users has been positive with solicitors and lenders reporting speed and security as key benefits of this service.  Having identified that there is a strong support for this amongst the conveyancing community we are now in the build phase of its development.  However, we continue to undertake regular research with solicitors, via our UX Panel, and lenders to ensure that we deliver a service that brings benefit to both parties.  Regular updates on the progress of the edischarge service can be found on our website www.ros.gov.uk