International E-Conveyancing Strategies: Lessons for South Africa

Conveyancing is the legal process of creating, transferring and dealing with interest in land. In a global world, where there is an increased use of technology to streamline and implement fast and efficient client service delivery, it would suffice that the registration process of property be digitatised. Yet in South Africa and other countries this process remains manual. Different countries have looked at innovative e-conveyancing strategies and implemented these strategies successfully. It is the aim of this article to review the different e-conveyancing strategies used by different countries and how they were implemented giving focus to the South African conveyancing process. The article examines the conveyancing process of South Africa through the use of a conceptual framework, mapping the different stakeholders involved in the end-to-end conveyancing process. This article presents the benefits associated with e-conveyancing for the South African context and gives recommendations on the implementation of this process within South Africa. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n10p23