How safe is PEXA? What is PEXA?
How safe is PEXA? What is PEXA?
PEXA is owned by the state government and Australia’s big banks. It’s an online property exchange conveyancing network assisting members – lawyers, conveyancers and financial intuitions – to transfer ownership and complete financial settlements of property sales and lodge documents with Land Registries electronically online.
Pexa
The safety of Australia’s new online property exchange network PEXA has come into question recently as two client’s settlement fee’s, worth around $1.25 million, were stolen by online fraudsters. Email accounts were hacked and funds lost. We ask the question, how safe is the online platform and who benefits from it?
Online fraudsters managed to steal $1.25 million from two owners at the same time as their funds where being settled. One of the victims was Masterchef contestant Dani Venn.
This isn’t the only time that sums of money that have vanished from the system, causing a major backlash against PEXA just several months before the system becomes mandatory in October, 2018.
PEXA says it is “…committed to supporting the property industry as it transitions towards a 100% digital conveyancing process that’s fast, safe and efficient”. According to PEXA it “has robust fraud protections and strict authentication procedures built into its platform”.
Even so, for some the notion that this system will become mandatory in Victoria in October is scary. Many property lawyers and conveyacers are voicing concerns against the new online system for property conveyancing.
The old verses the new
There and many pros for moving a 150 year old paperwork system to an online platform, the environmental factor alone being a paperless transaction is one. The convenience of being able to lodge documents and to complete financial settlements from a computer anywhere is also another benefit. However, one of the main cons is online safety and security. Is the internet safe? Are the large sums of money it takes to buy and sell real estate safe in cyberspace?
We spoke to a local Kew property lawyer who is currently using PEXA to get his opinion. He sees the major winners from this change to be the stakeholders in PEXA themselves.
The State Government is guaranteed payment of stamp duty at settlement. The Titles Office will receive all their fee at settlement. They will also need less staff, so lower wages to administrate the transfer of property ownership from vendor to purchaser. Another advantage of PEXA is the vendor has quicker access to their funds.
A negative is that there are new fees for PEXA online conveyancing with the vendor, the purchaser and any mortgagees involved in the settlement having to pay $112 each. A typical sale with two mortgagees, this amount of fees will be $448 which prior to PEXA was not payable.
At Buyers Solutions, the jury is out on PEXA but we’ll watch this space with keen interest as change is coming and it will impact our clients.
For independent advice on buying or selling real estate, contact Janet Spencer at Buyer Solutions +61 3 9816 8555 or email jspencer@buyersolutions.com.au
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