HMLR missing the net with Qualified Electronic Signatures, says UK digital ID sector

The UK’s digital identity sector is appealing to the HM Land Registry (HMLR), the government agency that registers ownership of land and property in England and Wales, over how HMLR uses qualified electronic signatures (QES) for conveyancing.

The registry began accepting QES for effecting registrable dispositions in August 2025 – a move that the industry welcomed, but not believes may have been fumbled.

In a post on LinkedIn, digital identity legal expert Richard Oliphant comments on an open letter he has signed as part of a coalition of e-signing platforms, qualified trust service providers, DVS-certified identity providers and subject matter experts.

“Whilst our industry coalition is fully supportive of QES, we disagree with HMLR over its implementation,” Oliphant says. Under current guidance, HMLR has produced “just five registrable dispositions made with QES in Q1 2026.”

“Even Scotland went into the World Cup with higher hopes.”

QES guidance attracts ‘significant criticism’

The industry coalition envisions QES as something more akin to the English side, which plays in the World Cup semi-finals this week, with hopes of bringing it all home. To get there, it believes the guidance must be amended with three key changes.

First, HMLR must permit execution in counterpart. Second, it must permit mixed-format signing. Finally, it must “extend the safe harbour protection in HMLR Practice Guide 81 to registrable transactions signed with QES.”

The letter provides details on the legal arguments at play. But the core argument is that the rules as they exist risk leaving England and Wales behind in adoption of more secure e-signature technology – at exactly the time when use elsewhere is accelerating, thanks to the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) scheme.

“We note that the restrictions in the current QES guidance have already attracted significant criticism from conveyancers,” the letter says. “No comparable barriers exist in any EU member state or in Scotland. The current position risks placing England and Wales at a disadvantage relative to other jurisdictions at precisely the moment when – thanks to the imminent launch of the EUDI Wallet – QES is becoming a mainstream tool for identity-assured document execution.”

“Our industry coalition stands ready to work with HMLR to improve its guidance and support conveyancing firms and lenders to transition from wet ink signatures and CCES to higher grade QES.”

Europe could get the better of UK on the pitch, and off

The slow pace of legislation has hindered the uptake of digital ID in the UK property sector.

Recently, Myidentity – a UK initiative to simplify identity verification for property transactions that received funding in 2020 from Innovate UK – paused activity over “delays and false starts in progressing a coherent identity strategy.”

More problematic was the statement from Etive, Myidentity’s technology supplier, which said of digital ID, “we’re not convinced that it will work, as it provides no consumer benefit and, by default, no real sector benefit.”

The government has certainly failed to execute its three-year strategy published in 2022, which announced its plans to fully digitize property transactions. Legislative processes in the UK are not known for speed, but regulatory pace is becoming more important to stakeholders dealing with rapid change. Should the government fail to impress them, they may end up looking less like an English side in ascent, and more like a tired English side destined to fail against a faster, more nimble and ultimately higher quality opponent.

Article Topics

digital identity  |  electronic-signature  |  Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES)  |  Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP)  |  Richard Oliphant  |  UK digital ID