Law firm Maddocks has launched a new electronic exchange platform for development contracts. "The twentieth century method of printing out massive documents, posting them or having them couriered and then having the physical documents securely filed goes against the grain of what is a fast-moving and dynamic industry," said partner Nick Holuigue, the head of the firm’s Development practice.

An electronic document exchange platform will potentially save developers tens of thousands of dollars on large land subdivision and apartment development projects, says the firm. They believe the platform will be especially useful to overseas clients and those who sell to overseas purchasers.

The platform allows agents and developers to complete their master contract for a particular development online with the agreed commercial terms. The contract will be encrypted and cannot be altered, save for particular agreed fields. Once completed the platform facilitates electronic signatures by all relevant parties and all parties are provided with a copy of the fully executed and exchanged contract.

Maddocks processes up to 10,000 development contracts and settlements every year. The firm was involved last year in about $3 billion in development sales in the residential sector in Victoria alone and counts industry leaders such as Mirvac, Satterley, Gurner and Woodlea as clients. 

"We sold about 800 lots in 2015 alone and each of them came with documents that had to be created, posted, handled and filed," said Matthew Dean, the project director for Woodlea, a joint venture by Mirvac and Victoria Investments and Properties. "We are excited by the opportunity to streamline that part of our business with Maddocks by shifting how we sign our documents from mountains of paper to the push of a button."

"We are in the business of developing world-class residential projects and we work to incredibly tight timelines to bring our projects to market. Being able to move all our legal paperwork online will save us valuable time and allow us to focus on our core business," said Tim Gurner, founder of property development company Gurner.

Urban Development Institute of Australia (Victoria Division) CEO Danni Addison said that as technology changes, the Institute encourages and supports all stakeholders within the property and development industry to seek ways to streamline processes and reduce costs.