Bank of Scotland Ireland has become the latest lender to offer fast-track remortgaging for a set fee through a system designed to cut legal delays.The bank has signed an agreement with First American Title Company that allows customers moving their mortgage to Bank of Scotland to complete the process within five to 10 working days

Bank of Scotland joins lending institutions IIB Homeloans, Permanent TSB and First Active in offering access to a service called title insurance, which costs a set fee of €985 including all legal expenses and VAT.

Ms Catherine O'Sullivan, managing director of First American Title Company (Ireland), confirmed that the company, a subsidiary of the IFG group, was in talks with two other lenders.

Negotiations with one lender are at "a very advanced stage", Ms O'Sullivan said.

"The whole legal process of moving a mortgage makes it almost as slow as moving house," she added.

Title insurance, which is commonly used in the US, speeds up the remortgage process by replacing a solicitor's report on the title.

It guarantees the lender that the title on the property is good and marketable, covering them against "defects" such as boundary disputes and lost deeds.

IIB became the first Irish lender to offer the service in 1998, branding it Express Cheque. First Active brands it as Easy Switch and makes it available to customers who wish to move to its current account mortgage.

According to Mr Ronnie Macaulay, national sales manager for Bank of Scotland mortgages, remortgaging continues to be complicated, expensive and time-consuming, making it difficult for people to move mortgages from one lender to another.

This deters consumers from seeking out lower interest rates during the term of their mortgage.

First American has made a number of proposals to the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, on how the remortgaging process could be streamlined and made cheaper for homeowners. It is thought that Ms Harney is concerned that the obstacles to switching mortgages are hampering competition in the market.

In contrast to the fast-track service offered by First American, Bank of Scotland claims that a remortgage by the traditional route can take up to 12 weeks to complete.

Mr Michael Dowling, adviser at property firm Sullivan Dowling and president of the Independent Mortgage Advisers Federation, said that title insurance had worked "extremely well" for the lenders who already use the system.

"It would be nice to see all lenders offering a facility like this," he said.

"If you are refinancing with lenders who do not offer title insurance, you would generally go back to the solicitor you would have dealt with the first time," said Mr Dowling. "In that case, it could take about four to 12 weeks - that's the kind of timeframe you are dealing with.

"Assuming that the solicitor has dealt with the clients before and the information is up to date, you would expect it to be a much slicker process but, unfortunately, it's not."

If more lenders adopt the title insurance system, solicitors will make less money per remortgage.

First American has a nationwide panel of about 110 solicitors, who will receive a €140 slice out of the €985 fee for its service.

Usually, remortgaging costs between €1,000 and €2,000 in solicitors' fees.

Some solicitors charge half a per cent of the transaction plus VAT. In the case of a €250,000 mortgage, a half a per cent charge plus VAT would result in a fee of €1,512.

Fees can also vary "quite a lot" when homeowners want to refinance by extending their mortgage term or increasing repayments in exchange for a release of equity (a cash payment).

Mr Dowling said one client was refinancing her mortgage in a separation case in order to pay her ex-partner €10,000. "Her own solicitor quoted her a fee of over €1,000, which was 10 per cent of the overall amount."