Money is to be paid to councils across the UK to motivate them to transfer their land charge data to the central Digital Local Land Charges (LLC) Register quicker.
It has been revealed by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay, that a £26 million fund has been set up by HM Treasury with the aim to speed up house sales in England and Wales.
It is three years this summer since HM Land Registry (HMLR) launched their fully digital Local Land Charges register to fulfil its ambition to be the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data. By centralising and digitising the local land charges information of local authorities in England they are helping to improve conveyancing. Search results from the new register will be instantly available in a standard, easy-to-read format.
The fund will be used to incentivise councils to relocate and digitise their Local Land Charges (LLC) register data to a central national database.
It was a slow start following the launch of the central digital database and a year on in the summer of 2019 they were still experiencing minor blips and envitable speed bumps. However, HMLR viewed the inaugural year of LLC as a successful enterprise whilst updating the original system that is over 90 years old and is transferring data over 45 years old.
But with just 18 councils signed up, the extra cash is in recognition of the hundreds of councils which need to complete their LLC migration.
HMRC says this fund will make the target of finishing the project by 2025 ‘more achievable’.
Karina Singh, HM Land Registry Director of Transformation said:
“Local authorities which transfer their local land charges data to our Local Land Charges (LLC) Register within an agreed timescale will receive transition payments.
“We understand the uncertain economic landscape facing many local authorities and the resourcing issues this creates.
“In the UK, property remains one of the single largest investments many people make. We want to help buyers get the information they need, in a faster and simpler manner.”
The Land Registry says its figures suggest that 6% of property transactions fail, costing between £700 and £2,700 per transaction.
Singh adds:
“By enabling earlier access to LLC information these costs should reduce, making the conveyancing process better for all parties.”
