Hi Sieg

Thanks for the post, and all valid comments.

The manual applications are not really "manual applications" as these are emails which include an electronic form of the rates application - but which are handled by the council as a manual application - probably better to say a manual process as they don't fall into the IRCAM link via the L@W electronic submission system.

It is not always ideal to have just one vendor as a supplier for systems to any market, it is just that it is so specialised and costly to set up that the vendors want to get the best return - so after being in that game for 20 years, I sort of understand why it happens. I am hoping that going forward these new system requests by banks and government institutions will be put out to tender and that hopefully they will elect more than one vendor for the solution. Competition drives down prices and increases the functionality of the system.

The electronic process does work well (especially when _not_ on fire) but I think if all parties sat around a table and negotiated a solution for all vendors, government departments and banks to work together on - the system would be wonderful. Of course the conveyancers would have to have representation around the same table.

Last point, L@W did pay the price and school fees to get the system working, while Korbitec at the time of initiating the whole electronic rates applications elected to stand back and leave it to them. And I know this via a very reliable source ;-)

Hope the conveyancers get together to pressurise the players, including the council to play nicely.