"We have seen several innovations arise to facilitate property transactions under Covid-19 and collaboration will be key in harnessing these"
The tech provider says the machine learning tools come at a "crucial time" when conveyancers and commercial property lawyers are responding to a 'mini-boom' in the market.
The machine learning tools are now being used to progress transactions of property portfolios by interrogating and cleansing address data submitted by legal firms. Search Acumen says the address cleansing tool "reduces hours or even days" of administrative time spent error-checking and correcting property addresses.
In a few seconds, the machine learning tool reconstructs address data, cross-referencing it against over 30 million official UK addresses. This can then be matched against external records from HM Land Registry, Local Authorities and other data sources. As with all machine learning, the tool is continually being fed data, trained and updated.
The tool is now available to all users of Search Acumen’s Portfolio Cloud service.
Search Acumen has also deployed machine learning to bolster its customer support team in delivering the best possible service to its commercial and residential clients at a particularly busy time. The tool cuts the current processing time of search requests down significantly by categorising emails and attachments and forwarding data to the correct location. The technology can filter and combine the contents of unlimited emails and attachments received from Local Authorities and other external sources in one place in seconds.
Andrew Lloyd, managing director at Search Acumen commented: “We are at a tipping point in the property industry and now is the moment for us all to come together and support the shift towards digital once and for all. We have seen several innovations arise to facilitate property transactions under Covid-19 and collaboration will be key in harnessing these, giving consumers and businesses a faster, simpler and more reliable service.
“We have long been advocates of AI, machine learning and other transformative technologies to streamline and accelerate vital legal real estate processes. While there has been a lot of talk and hype around AI, very few are walking the walk and putting words into actions for the benefit of conveyancers and commercial real estate lawyers. The development of our first machine learning tools is an industry first, which shows how applying technology in daily workflows can radically improve tasks that are often frustrating, frequently mundane and absolutely essential to get right without delay.
“We are already seeing significant cost and time saving benefits for our clients. Rather than replacing jobs, the introduction of AI and machine learning to property transactions enables lawyers and support staff to get back to their role as expert consultants and provide first-class service to their clients.
“This is the first stage in our transition to becoming a business with AI and machine learning at its core. Having also been part of the world’s first blockchain trial for property transactions, we are committed to equipping real estate lawyers with the tools and techniques to embrace the digital age and make the due diligence process fit-for-purpose for the 21st Century.”
