Nationwide has announced a change (Image: Getty )
Nationwide has dragged mortgage deeds into the 21st century, becoming the first UK lender to allow borrowers to sign one electronically without requiring a witness. One broker hailed the announcement as “a brilliant move forward”, though a conveyancer warned, “most of the market is nowhere near ready”.
Homebuyers and remortgagers can now sign their mortgage deed online using a Qualified Electronic Signature (QES), provided their solicitor or conveyancer has the necessary QES setup. Nationwide claims it will accelerate transactions, reduce administrative back-and-forth and enhance security throughout the process.
The development, enabled through partnership with HM Land Registry, Your Conveyancer and Veyco, represents part of Britain’s largest building society’s ongoing push to digitalise and streamline the homebuying journey. A mortgage deed is a legal document linking a person’s mortgage to their property. Traditionally, it has required a physical signature on paper.
Yet Nationwide will now accept QES – a secure form of electronic signature that has undergone identity verification – following HM Land Registry’s decision in August 2025 to start accepting them within the mortgage application process.
A QES provides enhanced consumer protection. It verifies who signed the deed, offers stronger safeguards against tampering and carries the same legal weight as a handwritten, witnessed signature.
It also enables contract exchange to occur far more rapidly. Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s group director of mortgages, said: “Nationwide is committed to speeding up the homebuying process and reducing the stress and inconvenience that can come with buying a home.”
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Shaun Sturgess, director at Swansea-based Sturgess Mortgage Solutions, said the industry was at last eliminating obstacles that have been hindering property transactions without justification. He maintained this should reduce delays, ease stress and actually bolster consumer protection. He also anticipated other lenders would follow suit.
Mr Sturgess said: “This is a brilliant move forward and very much in line with the digital world we now live in. Anything that removes unnecessary friction from the mortgage and conveyancing process is a positive step for both borrowers and the professionals advising them.
“For too long, simple administrative stages like wet signatures and witnessing have caused avoidable delays, often holding up completions for days or even weeks. Allowing secure, verified electronic signatures on mortgage deeds has the potential to significantly speed up transactions and reduce stress for buyers and remortgagers alike.
“Importantly, this isn’t about cutting corners. Qualified Electronic Signatures offer strong identity verification and legal protection, so consumer security isn’t being compromised.
“In many ways, it’s an improvement on traditional paper-based systems. I would fully expect other lenders to follow Nationwide’s lead over time.”
Riz Malik, director at Southend-on-Sea-based R3 Wealth, suggested the broader property process remains long overdue for a complete overhaul. However, he noted that transformation requires someone prepared to take the first step, and Nationwide could be leading the way.
Home buyers should find it useful (Image: Getty )
Mr Malik said: “In the age of driverless cars, it is great that parts of the property process are changing with the times. The whole house-buying process in the UK needs ripping up and starting again, but it needs brave innovators to lead the revolution. Maybe Nationwide can lead the charge?”
Jamie Alexander, mortgage director at Romsey-based Alexander Southwell Mortgages, described it as a genuinely significant development because deeds have remained paper-based longer than virtually anything else. He believes it should reduce mistakes, prevent documents going astray, and trim days off remortgages especially.
Mr Alexander said: “This is a genuinely big step forward. Mortgage deeds have been one of the last stubbornly paper-based parts of the process, so removing wet-ink signatures and witnesses is a breakthrough.
“It will speed up completions, reduce admin errors, and remove delays caused by paperwork being posted, signed incorrectly, or lost. For remortgages in particular, this could shave days off the process. Done properly, this is exactly the kind of change the home buying process needs: practical, secure and genuinely client-friendly, not just “digital for the sake of it”.”
Justin Moy, managing director at Chelmsford-based EHF Mortgages, described it as an overdue improvement delivering genuine time and cost savings. He highlighted reduced postal delays for remortgages and suggested that missed or delayed delivery could leave borrowers paying unnecessary interest whilst waiting.
Mr Moy continued: “This is a significant step in conveyancing, finally embracing the opportunities of digital signatures. As our preferred conveyancing firm for remortgages, EHF Mortgages’ clients will automatically benefit from the time and effort savings delivered by Your Conveyancer, avoiding the need for Royal Mail’s hit-and-miss delivery service, which costs borrowers a fortune in additional interest each year.”
Some experts say Nationwide is ahead of the market, however (Image: Getty )
The market ‘is nowhere near ready’
However, Chris Barry, director at Thomas Legal, a nationwide conveyancing firm, expressed reservations, warning that most of the sector was nowhere near prepared.
He stressed that the initial success depended on technology-enabled firms connecting with other platforms, whilst thousands of conveyancers still lacked the resources, funding or capacity to implement this rapidly. He supported e-signatures as the future direction, but noted the industry remained largely paper-dependent.
Mr Barry said: “This sadly is still a long way off. The successful trial was a tech-enabled conveyancing firm integrated into another tech firm. There are 4500 conveyancing firms, most of which have no technology, and those that do are unlikely to have the budget or resources to integrate systems.
“Development time is expensive and far from straightforward. While e-signatures are absolutely the way forward, conveyancing is still stuck behind paper, post and dictation.”
