Notts solicitor Don Howard, head of conveyancing at Robert Barber Solicitors, warned today that Government plans to introduce an electronic conveyancing service would only succeed if they had the full co-operation of mortgage lenders and local authorities.

The service, announced by Ministers recently, is designed to speed up what is acknowledged as one of the slowest house-buying systems in the world. The new online system will link lawyers, lenders, the Land Registry and other property professionals.

�If it has the full co-operation of everyone concerned,� said Mr Howard, �the proposed system could speed up the process of house buying in Nottinghamshire by more than 50%.�

He added: �In theory I am all for it. Something needs to be done about the present system as many people suffer a great deal of frustration when buying a property. In practice, however, I think we are several years away from an online system which can operate successfully on a national level.�

Currently only 20% of local authorities in England and Wales can do computerised searches � one of the essential links in the house-buying chain. The typical cost of a search is around �100.

�Quite simply, until every local authority adopts this system we will have to carry of with the traditional process of making time consuming written requests by post. In contrast we now carry out environmental searches on-line and have the result in minutes.�