Click to convey: a lesson from Norway

Even by the standards of Nordic efficiencies, this one is impressive. In Norway, the process of buying or selling a property and transferring legal title takes a matter of days. It can even be done on a mobile phone. However numerous legal, institutional and cultural barriers need to be overcome before the conveyancing process in England and Wales comes anywhere close. 

That doesn't mean we shouldn't be starting the process, however. 

A vision of the Norwegian system was presented - in flawless English - by Hannah Cook (pictured), director of cadastre and land registration at Kartverket, the Norwegian Mapping Authority, to this week's launch conference of the cross-sector Digital Property Market Steering Group.

A key feature of the Norwegian process is a comprehensive upfront information pack - prepared at the seller's expense. Cook illustrated it by holding up a bulky wedge of A4 paper. The pack is a legal requirement, containing all relevant geographical, registration, legal and financial documentation as well as details of the physical building. 'The buyer can feel quite safe because everything is documented,' Cook said. The pack takes about a month to compile, though many data fields can be filled automatically thanks to the ability of public agencies to share data. 

Unlike in England and Wales, Norwegian real estate agents are highly regulated professionals - typically lawyers, Cook said. When a (binding) offer is received for the property, they handle the conveyance, usually within a week. 

Obviously the Norwegian system still faces challenges. One is the delivery of snail mail: 'The more digital we become, the worse the postal services get,' Cook said - an experience which will surely resonate here. There are still inefficiencies cause by the differing interests of stakeholders. Especially pertinent is the onslaught of new regulation, ranging from data protection to anti-money laundering; a recent mandatory addition to the seller's information is the result of drilling in walls to check for mould.

The status of estate agents is not the only thing that would need to change for instant conveyancing to become reality in England and Wales.  

On an institutional level, it is notable that Kartverket is a cadastral agency, combining geographical, ownership and tax assessment data. This undoubtedly simplifies data reconciliation and exchange, though, given proper data standards, it is probably not essential to the process.

Kartverket still accepts applications on paper, Cook revealed, prompting some audience chuckles when she noted that it is required by law to process them within two days (revised down from four days in 2017). 

However about 70% of the agency's traffic comes in digital form, which leads us to a wider cultural change: the use of digital identities and digital signatures. As in most of the Nordic region, these are the norm in Norway. The system, run by the banks, is the key to pretty well all public services: users authenticate transactions by entering their national identity number and a one-time code. 

The UK's current drive towards a federated digital identity system is a generation behind, hamstrung as it is by the identity card debate. Perhaps Tony Blair, who promoted digital identities during his brief 'dotcom government' phase, can persuade his protegé Sir Keir Starmer to put some bold ambitions in his election manifesto. 

It would be tempting to dismiss the Norwegian example as irrelevant because of the size of the country, or for cultural differences. However, according to Cook, Norwegians are at least as committed as Britons to the property-owning dream, with 84% home ownership. 

And, despite the institutional difficulties, the old joke about asking for directions to Market Snodsbury - 'I wouldn't start from here' - doesn't quite apply either.  

Cook had three pieces of advice to her England and Wales counterparts: Think big, but take small steps; Collaborate across sectors and track results. 

In a quick-fire Q&A round, Cook's English seemed to falter only once: when she failed at first to grasp the concept of a 'chain'. Sure, she explained, some transactions in Norway depend on a sale or purchase, but 'when you sell, you can vary the time scale' to suit. Where's the problem? 

The Norwegian consulate is in Belgrave Square. Form an orderly queue.