Leading Australian law firm MinterEllison has completed its first property transfer involving financial settlement using the PEXA platform. The transaction was the sale of a residential property in Perth for a registered Australian Charity, a long standing client of MinterEllison. The settlement occurred online, in little over 15 minutes, without any party having to leave their office. The funds were transferred to the client’s account immediately after completion. As the buyer was an investor who financed the purchase, there were three parties represented in the PEXA workspace – the vendor, the buyer and the bank financing the purchase. MinterEllison's Innovation and Networks Leader, Andrew Cunningham, said the benefit for the client using the PEXA online platform is considerable. "The real property industry is going through a rapid transformation, backed by state governments and land registries. We're proud of MinterEllison's ability and readiness to adopt these changes to assist our clients, he said." Over the past six months MinterEllison has been running a pilot of PEXA, completing more than 80 simple lodgements electronically, including Discharges of Mortgage, Caveats, Settlement Notices and more recently Priority Notices. "Adding stand-alone financial settlements to the scope of our work in PEXA was a logical next step," Mr Cunningham said. MinterEllison's property team is one of the largest in Australia, with 36 partners and more than 140 lawyers across the country delivering a comprehensive range of property-related legal services for developers, investors, owners, landlords, property fund managers and governments. Perth-based Senior Paralegal, Emma Cummings, who led the team on the property settlement, said the process was seamless. "I’m looking forward to working full time on the PEXA platform. It's an easy, productive and collaborative way to conduct settlements," she said.
Above: Emma Cummings, Senior Paralegal and Natalie Casale, Special Counsel (Perth) completed MinterEllison’s first financial settlement
