docassemble.hmlrhelper 0.0.3

A docassemble extension that allows you to submit HM Land Registry (HMLR) forms to DocuSign

docassemble.hmlrhelper (beta)

A docassemble extension that allows you to submit HM Land Registry (HMLR) forms to DocuSign through the DocuSign API from inside Docassemble interviews.

If for any reason you can't/don't want to use electronic signatures in certain circumstances, you can also still generate a TR1 for signing 'manually' instead.

This extension makes use of the awesome docassemble.docusign extension created by the lovely people at Radiant Law.

Current limitations

This implementation is currently limited to TR1's, and is intended to meet the requirements for electronic signatures as set out in the 13.3 Our Requirements section of Practice guide 8: execution of deeds .

• Works for person to person transfers only. There are different requirements and wording if the transfer is being signed by an attorney or company, or at the direction of the transferor.
• HMLR will accept up to four transferees listed on the TR1 (see guidance) however:
  • the size of Box 12 (Execution) on the sample TR1 that this interview populates means there is a practical limitation of a maximum of 4 signatories and their and associated witnesses (counting both transferors and transferees and noting that transferres don't always need to sign).
  • A simple way to improve on this would be the use of a template file where Box 12 (Execution) was extended to use the full space available on page three.
• Similarly, addresses are limited to 60 characters in order to fit onto a single line, so you may need to get creative with choosing which address elements are important!
• The person creating the interview is responsible for ensure unique emial/mobile numbers are used for each signatory. The interview does not perform any checks for duplicates.
• The conveyancer still needs to date the deed at the end of the process and submit it to HMLR 'manually'.

Installation & Prerequisites

1. Install docassemble.docusign first. Follow the setup and testing process within docassemble.docusign to ensure that you can push documents into DocuSign for signature successfully.

2. Install this docassemble.hmlrhelper package from within your Docassemble package management screen using the latest stable verison available in PyPi:

   • docassemble.hmlrhelper on PyPi

Github Repository

Note: Only install from the Github Repository if you want to input into the development of the extension:

• https://github.com/mattpennington/docassemble-hmlrhelper

Configuration & Testing

After you've tested docassemble.docusign above, and with the extension still in test mode (test-mode: True) run the test interview at:

{YOUR SERVER BASE URL}/interview?i=docassemble.hmlrhelper:data/questions/test.yml

1. The interview will allow you to choose to either:

• push a sample populated TR1 into DocuSign and run through a working demo of the signatory process, or;
• proceed without signing electronically and just populate the TR1 for signing 'manually'

1. If you choose to sign electronically:

• the DocuSign sandbox will send all emails to the the email address of the DocuSign sandbox user you created when setting up docassemble.docusign
• the test interview asks for a mobile phone number that will be used for all SMS's for the Two Factor Authentication. Please use your own mobile number! :-)
• as you will be using the same mobile number for every test signatory, you will only be asked to complete 2FA once. In a live scenario the mobile number of each recipient would be different and therefore each unique mobile number provided would have to complete 2FA

Interview Process within Docassemble

Ensure you have followed the "Configuration & Testing" guide before you start a real interview

The TR1 interview is at: {YOUR SERVER BASE URL}/interview?i=docassemble.hmlrhelper:data/questions/tr1.yml

The interview runs as follows:

1. Option to choose whether we are preparing a document for esignature or 'manual' processing (we ask fewer questions if we don't need email addressses and mobile numbers fo esignatures)
2. Capture title number and property address
3. Choose whether the transfeor is transferring with full title guarantee
4. Set the consideration
5. Add any additional provisions
6. Add details of transferrors and their witnesses
7. Choose how many transferees there are
8. The number of transferees and additional provisions determes whether the transferees will be signing the document or not, and therefore how much information we need to capture
9. The document is generated and you have the opportunity to review it and go back and make changes if needed
10. You can then continue, at which stage you are asked to add the details for the person who will be responsible for checking over the document and then doing something with it (e.g. sending it to HMLR)
11. The completed document is pushed to Docusign
12. The workflow in Docassemble is completed, and the process for obtaining signatures is controlled by Docusing (starting with an email to the first transferor asking for a signature)

Process within Docusign

1. 1st Transferor clicks document link in email
2. 1st Transferor completes Two Factor Authentication by SMS to access document
3. 1st Transferor signs deed
4. 1st Transferor Witness clicks document link in email
5. 1st Transferor Witness completes Two Factor Authentication by SMS to access document
6. 1st Transferor Witness witnesses 1st Transferor signature and signs deed
7. (Repeat for all transferors)
8. If Transferees need to sign too...
   1. 1st Transferee clicks document link in email
   2. 1st Transferee completes Two Factor Authentication by SMS to access document
   3. 1st Transferee signs deed
   4. 1st Transferee Witness clicks document link in email
   5. 1st Transferee Witness completes Two Factor Authentication by SMS to access document
   6. 1st Transferee Witness witnesses 1st Transferee signature and signs deed
   7. (Repeat for all transferees)
9. The conveyancer is asked to review and approve the document

Going Live

In order to put this interview live, you will need to set test mode to false (test-mode: False) in your the configuration for docassemble.docusign. You may also need to follow the steps to move your application out of the Sandbox and into Docusign's live environment if you haven't done this for other documents submitted using docassemble.docusign already. Check out the docassemble.docusign documentation to find out how to do this.

Future Possible Improvements

• Using the HMLR API to lookup the property address/reference, though arguably the conveyancer should have these details to hand anyway so perhaps keying them in saves possible lookup errors at this stage. Equally pulling the data from a case management system would be great too.
• allow the buyer/seller to add their own witness details and invite them when the document reaches them and before they undertake the signing.
• Whilst this implementation of the helper uses Docusign's SMS functionality for Recipient Identity Authentication, its worth noting that Phone Authentication could be made available too for signatories/witnesses that are unable to receive SMS.
• Docusign also supports Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA) which might prove useful in future.
• HMLR are looking to a future beyond Witnessed electronic signatures to Qualified electronic signatures, therefore further extension through Docusign may be needed in future.
• The implementation uses Signer Recipients rather than Witness Recipients in Docusign for the witness signatures as (at the time this version was published) docassemble.docusign doesn't have support for Witness Recipients
• The Reviewer should arguably be responsible for dating the document.

Disclaimer

This is a beta version and as such may contain bugs/unexpected output.

Software License & Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2020 Matt Pennington - Tonic Workflows

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

TR1 Copyright Notice

The Transfer of whole of registered titles (TR1) form is (c) Crown copyright (ref: LR/HO).