About Aoife

Hi Community,   During the Queen’s Birthday Holiday on 30 September 2019, financial settlement and lodgement will not be available for Western Australia.   To help you prepare for the holiday period, planned outages and more, please refer to Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays   Cheers   Aoife   @AngellaC  ... View more

A firm’s PEXA guide on what to do in a merger, acquisition or restructure.   PEXA’s Practitioner Services Team works closely with large law firms around Australia, helping them attain the full benefits of a digital settlement experience. They have assisted a number of firms when the nature of their business structures changed, either through a merger, acquisition or restructure, and the way they are set up in PEXA requires alteration. There are many considerations a firm must be aware of when going through a change of this magnitude. The following points will assist any PEXA members about to go through a restructure, merger or acquisition.   PEXA registration When a company goes through a merger, acquisition or restructure, a new registration may be required. This will be the case if the legal entity owning the business is changed, and/or the business is operating with a new ABN. Contact your PEXA Direct Specialist, or PEXA’s Account Services team at 1300 084 515 as soon as you are aware that you will be going through this change, so we may help you with this transition. In-flight Workspaces Consider if your Workspaces will settle under the new entity. If the answer is yes, then once a profile is created in the new entity, invite them into the Workspace. The newly created profile will also have the ability to join an existing Workspace ,  in the role of an IP or POT. Note: we recommend that the old profile withdraw from these Workspaces. Client Authorisation Forms (CAFs) Where there are existing CAFs, the new entity will need to determine if this needs to be redone. Setting up new user accounts User profiles are tied to email addresses. When using the same email address Your profile will have to be removed in order to set up your new profile in the new entity.  As your email address remains the same, Subscriber Managers will need to contact PEXA to enable this change.         2. When using a different email address Subscriber Managers can set up new profiles with the new email addresses. Once all necessary profiles are created, please notify PEXA’s Account Services team to terminate the old account. Please note that you may notify Account Services at any point in time. However, once the old account becomes non-compliant, it will be suspended. It is important to note that you will need to order new Digital Certificates for the user accounts under new entity, as they are hard coded to email addresses and the ABN of the business. Data from completed Workspaces It may be necessary for you to retain information from completed Workspaces from the previous entity. Feedback from PEXA members who have transitioned to a new entity suggest that extracting what you require from these Workspaces prior to terminating your account is the best approach. Alternatively, you can request a csv file from PEXA Support. If you urgently require something from these Workspaces that you inadvertently overlooked prior to terminating your account, PEXA Support may be able to assist. Profile closure Once everything has been completed, the Subscriber Mangers or the authorised signatory, must notify PEXA in writing by emailing: support@pexa.com.au , requesting that the old account be terminated. ... View more

Hi Community,   Good news! You can still lodge and settle on Grand Final Friday Public Holiday in Victoria.   To help you prepare for the holiday period, planned outages and more, please refer to Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays   Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,     On 5 August 2019, PEXA is releasing its next platform upgrade. Thanks to your continuous input, we have been able to make improvements to boost your user experience. In line with member feedback and as part of this upcoming release, the corrective payments process will no longer be completed via email – where the PEXA member was required to fill out a form, sign and e-mail return it to PEXA. Instead, from this date, the process will be enhanced to an in-platform experience. All Subscriber Managers with the current permission Signer – financial settlement  will be automatically allocated two additional permissions: Corrective Payments; and Signer – corrective payments . If there is anyone else in your organisation who requires either of these permissions, a Subscriber Manager or Subscriber Administrator within your business must enable the permission(s) for them. Those with the required permissions will see a ‘corrective payments’ option on the left-hand side column of the platform. By selecting this they will be able to view a new Corrective Payments dashboard, displaying ‘pending’, ‘processing’, and ‘completed corrective payments’. The release notes , will assist you in navigating this new process. Please see the following FAQs for further information. If your question is not answered, please post your question below and one of our subject matter experts will respond.   Do I need a Digital Certificate (DigiCert) to sign corrective payments? Yes, an additional Signer – corrective payments permission, along with a valid digital certificate, is required to digitally sign off on corrective payment changes.   How will I know that I have a corrective payment to complete?  When a corrective payment action is required, the transaction(s) will appear in the Your actions tab within the Corrective Payments dashboard and the number of corrective payments will appear next to the corrective payments option on the left-hand side column of the platform.     An in-platform pop-up notification will also prompt members to  take action .    Will I receive an e-mail notification to complete corrective payments? No, the corrective payments process no longer includes an e-mail notification (from 5 August 2019).   When a corrective payment action is required, the transaction(s) will appear in the Your actions tab within the Corrective Payments dashboard and the number of corrective payments will appear next to the corrective payments option on the left-hand side column of the platform.     An in-platform pop-up notification will also prompt members to  take action .    What permissions do I need to sign corrective payments? In order to digitally sign and in turn submit a corrective payment for PEXA processing, a user requires the following permissions to be selected:   Signer – financial settlement Corrective Payments Signer – corrective payments Can I view outstanding corrective payments without the permission to sign? Yes, a Subscriber Manager or Subscriber Administrator within your organisation can assign the permission Corrective Payments only.  You do not require permissions Signer – financial settlement and/or Signer – corrective payments to view outstanding corrective payments.   What happens after I’ve signed the corrective payments? Once submitted, PEXA will review and process the corrections as required. You will be able to follow the progress of your corrective payments on the new Corrective Payments dashboard. ... View more

Lachlan O'Brien, Associate at Hunt & Hunt Lawyers takes on Marcus' role in this episode of 5 in 5, speaking with Alicia Crossett (NAB) and Aidan Brenkovich (Gadens) about the common issues industry is facing, and what the banks and panel firms are doing to address them.             Previous episodes 2019 Episode One: Nick Karolidis and Marcus discuss common themes raised through PEXA’s in-platform feedback tool. Episode Two: Sarah Rizk, Partner at Thomson Geer speaks with Marcus and PEXA Project’s expert, @Josh Radford . Episode Three: 5 in 5 with Jyh Gusew, Community Superuser and Marcus Price, PEXA CEO ... View more

Hi there,   If you'd like more information about completing complex assessments online in Victoria, here's a link to further information:   https://community.pexa.com.au/t5/Ideas-and-Suggestions/VIC-Complex-Assessments-FAQs/m-p/15648   Cheers   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,   On 5 August, NSW has a bank holiday resulting in reduced settlement hours for NSW, VIC, SA and WA. Please note the following changes:   New South Wales Financial Settlement is available until 4pm AEST Lodgement is available as normal   Victoria Financial Settlement is available until 4pm AEST Lodgement is available as normal   Western Australia Financial Settlement is available until 2pm AWST Lodgement is available as normal   South Australia Financial Settlement is available until 3.30pm ACST Lodgement is available as normal   Queensland Lodgement and settlement times remain unchanged   To help you prepare for the holiday period, planned outages and more, please refer to Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays or hours of operations for lodgement and settlement.   Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,   On 5 August, NSW has a bank holiday resulting in reduced settlement hours for NSW, VIC, SA and WA. Please note the following changes:   New South Wales Financial Settlement is available until 4pm AEST Lodgement is available as normal   Victoria Financial Settlement is available until 4pm AEST Lodgement is available as normal   Western Australia Financial Settlement is available until 2pm AWST Lodgement is available as normal   South Australia Financial Settlement is available until 3.30pm ACST Lodgement is available as normal   Queensland Lodgement and settlement times remain unchanged   To help you prepare for the holiday period, planned outages and more, please refer to Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays or hours of operations for lodgement and settlement.   Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,   We have been advised that COIN - the network responsible for the secure transmission of payment files between PEXA and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) - is experiencing service issues. Workspaces will likely remain in a status of ‘Settling’ until the underlying issue has been resolved. Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,   As the end of financial year approaches, PEXA and our team of experts in the Support Centre are here to help.   If you need to contact the team, one of our friendly support staff is available from   Monday to Friday, 8.30am – 8.00pm AEST/DT . Please call 1300 084 515 or e-mail support@pexa.com.au for assistance.   Being the busiest day in the property settlements calendar, we’re mindful of ensuring a consistent flow of transactions across the day to ensure they’re managed effectively, and to make sure you can access support if you require.     You may notice settlements shift by more than 30 minutes in some cases to the next available time.     Don't forget that from 1 July 2019, the pricing schedule will be updated. Please check your e-mails for a notification about upcoming changes.   Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

In a forward leap into digital property transactions, Bank of Queensland (BOQ) announced its trust account integration with PEXA. What does this mean for BOQ’s trust account holders? It means a more seamless online property transaction experience for practitioners and their clients. Natalie Scanlon, Principal at Countrywide Legal & Business Services, was the first legal practitioner in the country to use BOQ’s integrated function. Excited about this new efficiency-gain for her firm Natalie said,   “We couldn’t wait for Bank of Queensland’s trust account to be integrated with PEXA. We’re delighted it has finally arrived. Our firm has been a fully digital conveyancing firm for two years and the PEXA-BOQ integration saves us a minimum of 15 mins per transaction – a significant time saving in our conveyancing matters”. Natalie goes on to share that her firm was not only the first firm to use BOQ’s integrated trust account but has used it more than half a dozen times since   “it’s much easier than using a source account. Online lodgements and settlements are the norm for Countrywide, we welcomed this next phase of seamless transactions with open arms”. David Thorley, Manager Partner Enablement at BOQ, thanked the bank’s practitioner clients for their active collaboration and feedback during the integration process with PEXA. “BOQ prides itself on providing an individual experience for our customers. We worked closely with our practitioner customers and their feedback was instrumental in this digital transition. We believe by integrating with PEXA, our customers will benefit from cost efficiencies, less delays and a seamless online property settlement experience.” David also commented on the flow on benefits of digital settlements to the end consumer, saying,   “The traditional days of having to wait until 4pm for your property to settle are gone and consumers are now able to be advised in real-time of successful settlements”. The use of a Trust Account in PEXA allows lawyers and conveyancers to contribute funds to settlement on behalf of their client. When operating a BOQ Trust Account on PEXA, practitioners have full visibility of the funds available for settlement, have the ability to verify funds on the day of settlement, provided they are cleared and have the flexibility of being able to provide funds when acting on either side of a settlement, or when acting for a mortgagee. Practitioners with BOQ trust accounts will no longer be required to set up source accounts with PEXA as an alternative. Bill Hourigan, Queensland Law Society’s Manager of Trust Account Investigations, said   “BOQ’s integrated trust account with PEXA enables law practices that maintain trust accounts with BOQ to now participate directly within PEXA.” Bill also advised BOQ’s trust account holders in Queensland that a law practice that wishes to use the PEXA-BOQ integration must seek approval from QLS and agree to comply with the related guidelines. The QLS approval letter can then be provided to PEXA to begin benefitting from its new seamless integration. For more information about using trust accounts on PEXA, visit the   e-Conveyancing Community.     Source: https://www.pexa.com.au/news/bank-of-queensland-integrates-with-pexa ... View more

PEXA, together with our Subscribers, has an important role to play in upholding the integrity of the e-Conveyancing network. Ensuring all members are adequately insured plays a key role in this responsibility. This involves PEXA adhering to Requirement 14.4 of ARNECC’s Model Operating Requirements (MOR), which require PEXA to ensure that its Subscribers satisfy the Insurance Rules in Schedule 6 to the Model Participation Rules (MPR). Previously, having a conveyancing licence in NSW was evidence the licence holder was insured, however this is no longer the case as someone may obtain a licence without being insured. Read more here. As such, from 8 July, PEXA will be requesting (via e-mail) that all NSW conveyancers provide a copy of their organisation’s Certificate of Insurance for the year ending 2020, in order to keep using PEXA. We appreciate your assistance in helping us meet these requirements. To allow you ample time to prepare the necessary documentation, you will have until 7 August to provide the Certificate of Insurance to PEXA. All Subscribers who provide their insurance before 22 July 2019 will have the chance to win a Village Gold Class voucher valued at $100*. Please note, if PEXA does not receive a copy of your firm’s Certificate of Insurance, your firm’s access to PEXA will be temporarily suspended. For more information, please e-mail us at registration@pexa.com.au.               * PEXA Promotion Terms – Insurance Confirmation NSW (‘Promotion’)   1. The Promotion is conducted by Property Exchange Australia Limited (ABN 92 140 677 792) of Tower Four, Level 16, 727 Collins Street, Docklands, VIC 3008 (‘Promoter’). 2. By participating in the Promotion, the entrant agrees to be bound by these terms. 3. Entrants must satisfy the following criteria in order to be eligible to win the prize described in paragraph 7: the entrant must be: i. a licensed Conveyancer in NSW; ii. a PEXA Subscriber; and iii. at least 18 years of age. 4. The Promotion commences on 1 July 2019 and closes at 5 p.m. (Melbourne time) on 15 July 2019 (‘Promotion Period’). 5. To enter the Promotion, the entrant must, during the Promotion Period: i. Provide evidence of their insurance by sending a current copy of their Certificate of Insurance – Master Policy Schedule to registration@pexa.com.au. 6. Only one entry per Subscriber is permitted. 7. There will be three prizes available for three winners. Each winner will be entitled to a Village Cinema Gold Class voucher for 2 valued at $100. 8. The prizes are non-exchangeable, non-transferable and cannot be substituted for cash. 9. The three winners will be randomly selected from the pool of entrants. 10. The winners will be notified at the end of the Promotion or as soon as reasonably practical, via the email address provided to enter the Promotion. 11. Personal information such as an entrant’s name and email address will be collected by the Promoter. If an entrant does not provide this information, the entrant will not be eligible to enter the Promotion. PEXA’s Privacy Policy is available at https://www.pexa.com.au/privacy-policy. By entering the Promotion, the entrant consents to the Promoter using and disclosing their personal information for the purposes of administering the Promotion and advertising the winner. 12. The Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 13. The Promotion is a game of chance. Skill plays no part in determining the winner. 14. The Promoter reserves the right to: i. disqualify an entrant who submits an entry that is not in accordance with these terms; and ii. disqualify any entrant who submits an entry which infringes a third party’s intellectual property rights or includes profanity, is insulting or inflammatory or includes defamatory language. 15. If the prize is unavailable for any reason, the Promoter will substitute an alternative prize of no lesser value. 16. If, despite the Promoter’s best efforts to contact the winner, a prize remains unclaimed for more than 28 days, the Promoter will randomly select another entrant and the first winner will forfeit the prize.       ... View more

Join Jyh Gusew as he catches up with Marcus Price about Cornwalls’ contribution to the evolution of the PEXA platform, the importance of providing feedback and how industry’s collaboration has evolved over time.   Learn who the Community Superusers are from 2018 and 2019.   PEXA's Member Product Panel can be accessed here.       Other episodes 2019 Episode One: Nick Karolidis and Marcus discuss common themes raised through PEXA’s in-platform feedback tool. Episode Two: Sarah Rizk, Partner at Thomson Geer speaks with Marcus and PEXA Project’s expert, @Josh Radford . ... View more

RESOLVED   Hi Community,   PEXA members settling in Victoria will notice an outstanding task within their Workspace Summary, notifying them to manually trigger stamp duty. This is an error on the majority of Workspace Summary screens and will not affect settlement or lodgement of your transaction.   However, in a small number of cases this may be correct. To ensure you are not impacted, please:   Check Document Status is Prepared and Successful Check Stamp Duty screen says SRO Verification = Successful Check History screen says SRO verification = Successful and displays Date and Time.    Kind regards    Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,     The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will be closed due to the Queen’s Birthday holiday in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia on 10 June. As a result financial settlement is not available for all states. Lodgement is still available in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland.   To help you prepare for the holiday period, planned outages and more, please refer to  Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays     Cheers   Aoife ... View more

Sarah Rizk, Partner at Thomson Geer speaks with PEXA’s CEO Marcus Price and PEXA Project’s expert, @Josh Radford about Thomson Geer’s transition to electronic transactions and what that looks like for a major law firm dealing with multi-lot settlements.     Learn more about PEXA Projects here. ... View more

Updated: 14.5.2019 Hi Community,   The WA OSR has advised it is still encountering a system issue. This only impacts a select number of settlements. If impacted, your Subscriber Manager will receive a separate email informing of next steps required for these transactions.   For Workspaces that are not scheduled for today, you may notice that they are not proceeding as normal and/or Transfer Duty assessments appear as unsuccessful.   WA OSR is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and expect to implement a solution by close of business today.   Once the solution is implemented, your Workspace(s) will be able to proceed as normal.   Should you have any query for the OSR, please contact 08 9262 1113 or visit its website for notification updates.   Kind regards   Aoife         Hi WA,   The WA Office of State Revenue is encountering a system issue. This only impacts a select number of settlements. If you have a settlement that will be impacted today, your Subscriber Manager will have received a separate email.   For Workspaces that are not scheduled for today, you may notice that they are not proceeding as normal and/or Transfer Duty assessments appears as unsuccessful.   WA OSR is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.   Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

Hi WA,   The WA Office of State Revenue is still encountering system issues. This only impacts a select number of settlements scheduled for today. If impacted, your Subscriber Manager will have received a separate email informing you of the next steps required for these transactions.   For Workspaces that are not scheduled for today, you may notice that they are not proceeding as normal and/or Transfer Duty assessments appears as unsuccessful.   WA OSR is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible, and is expected to have a resolution after 3:30pm AWST today.   Once the solution is implemented, your Workspace(s) will be able to proceed as normal.   Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,     During WA Day on 3 June, financial settlement and lodgement will not be available for Western Australia.     To help you prepare for  the holiday period,  planned outages  and more, please refer to  Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays.   Kind regards   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,   During Labour Day, financial settlement and lodgement will not be available for Queensland.   To help you prepare for the holiday period, planned outages and more, please refer to Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays   Cheers   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,   During the Easter Holidays and Anzac Day, financial settlement isn’t available. However, Lodgement is still available in Victoria and New South Wales.   To help you prepare for the holiday period, planned outages and more, please refer to Calendar: Releases, Planned Outages & Public Holidays   Cheers   Aoife ... View more

Hi Community,   The end of daylight savings is approaching, and the RBA(Reserve Bank of Australia) has issued its changes to RITS (Reserve Bank Information & Transfer System) session times.   As a result, settlement slots in New South Wales will be reduced.   Please see the altered settlement hours below:   NSW-only   Date Time 7 April – 6 October 2019 9:30am – 5:30pm   Kind regards   Aoife  ... View more