Essential artl

Registers of Scotland (RoS) welcomes the recent announcement by Lloyds Banking Group to make automated registration of title to land (artl) mandatory for all of its panel members when dealing with appropriate transactions. The new arrangements will take effect from 1 September 2010.

The majority of registration payments to RoS are now made by direct debit. To benefit from this more efficient payment method and to coincide with the artl arrangements, Lloyds Banking Group will also insist that all related payments to RoS are made by direct debit. As with the artl preparation we will work with panel members to put the necessary arrangements in place.

Welcoming the announcement Sheenagh Adams, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, said: “Lloyds Banking Group’s recognition of the many benefits artl brings to the company and their customers is the key driver in their move to make artl mandatory for all of those wishing to serve on their panel. Increased efficiency, speed of service and enhanced security are some of the key features that attracted them.

“We are extremely grateful to Lloyds Banking Group for their commitment to artl to make all related payments by direct debit. We believe that direct debit is beneficial to all parties involved in the registration process and we are currently campaigning to encourage all payments to RoS to be made using this method.

“We will shortly be announcing the various ways in which we will be signing up, training and supporting newcomers to artl. We will, of course, continue to support those already using the system as we approach the September deadline.”

• For up-to-date information on artl, the Lloyds project and details on how to contact the artl customer service team, visit www.ros.gov.uk/artl

The Law Society fully support the use of artl. It recently stated:

“The Society is pleased to have been actively involved in the artl project since its birth over a decade ago. The system offers numerous advantages, which benefit both the profession and the general public:

• registration within 24 hours, greatly reducing the risk of fraud;
• faster applications, as most of the required information is pre-populated;
• increased flexibility, with access to the system outwith office hours;
• reduced registration fees for clients; and
• savings on the costs of paper, postage and banking.

“We would encourage those firms who have not yet applied for an artl licence to do so without delay and licensed firms to make use of the system wherever possible.”

Claire Lax, Head of Mortgage Servicing, Lloyds Banking Group, stated:

“This is a most positive and significant development in our partnership with the Registers of Scotland and its support and approach towards our joint objective of speeding up the registration of mortgage standard securities has been crucial.

“Our legal professional partners in Scotland are acutely aware of our expectations around registration of standard securities from previous communications and we have prioritised our focus on gaining a real understanding of the challenges we all face.

“The move to using the artl online process for registration, in all appropriate cases, will be the biggest influence on improving this situation. Solicitors are now able to register via artl across all Lloyds Banking Group brands: Lloyds TSB, Lloyds TSB Scotland, Halifax, BoS, Birmingham Midshires, C&G and Scottish Widows Bank; and our instructions in the CML Handbook have been fully updated to reflect this change.

“Use of artl process is crucial in achieving our joint objective and is fundamental in our defence against risk and fraud. From a customer perspective, it will also drive significant cost and efficiency benefits.

“I know that solicitors will continue to support us and respond positively to this development – we have recently written to all our Solicitors Panel in Scotland confirming these changes, all of which are fully supported by the Law Society of Scotland.”

Kennedy Foster of the Council of Mortgage Lenders stated:

“From my perspective, the main benefits to lenders from artl are as follows:

• land and charge certificates will be in electronic format and, therefore, there’s no need to store paper deeds, with consequent cost savings;
• the process of the signing of the discharge of security deeds can be made simpler and speedier by the application of digital signatures and through electronic processing, thereby reducing the administrative burden on lenders;
• a daily data feed from the artl system will be offered to lenders providing them with details of all their standard securities and discharges registered in artl on a particular day, thereby allowing lenders to improve monitoring and control of workflow and lower exposure to risk, as the registration of a transaction through artl can be registered on the same day as settlement of the purchase/re-mortgage transaction; and
• reduced costs as registration fees under artl will be lower than with the paper-based system.”

What is artl? 

Since its launch artl has been used to process over 25,000 cases. It can and is being used by a broad range of customers from large volume conveyancing firms to sole practitioners throughout the country. It uses a digital signature process (PKI) with a proven and extremely robust system of electronically signing deeds.

It is compatible with the majority of transfer, charge and discharge “dealings with whole” transactions over registered titles. This includes:

• Discharge;
• Disposition;
• Standard security;
• Simple assignations of lease;
• Assignation of single standard security;
• Notices of improvement, repair grant etc;
• Notice of cessation of improvement, repair grant etc; and
• Charging orders and discharge of charging orders.

A small number of “dealings with whole” transactions are unsuitable for artl; however the system allows you to do an immediate check.

One of the main benefits of artl is the speed of completing a transaction. Using artl, a standard security would take around three to four minutes from start to submission to the Keeper.

The IT requirements for artl are relatively simple and can be found on our website ros.gov.uk. The user needs access to the internet, Adobe Acrobat Reader, a smartcard reader and some free software. Everything else is supplied free by ROS.

How do I get started?

If you are planning on using artl, you need to arrange to be licensed, trained and issued with your smartcards. More information on this is available at ros.gov.uk or by calling the artl customer service team on 0845 607 0167.

Licences and smartcards are supplied free of charge by RoS.