HM Land Registry has set out its ambitions for 2025 and beyond in a strategy it says will deliver better services and create a faster, less stressful property market, centred around the use of data and a push towards digital transformation.
Strategy 2025+ sets out HMLR’s long-term priorities designed to modernise property transactions and improve the customer experience, from easy-to-use services that can be accessed safely on any mobile device to real-time information that customers can readily check for progress.
‘A lot has changed since we published Strategy 22+’, HMLR notes.
“The world has shifted – with new conflicts, new governments and new economic pressures. The property market has shifted – with new investment in technology, new coalitions and new industry pledges. HM Land Registry has shifted – with new digital-by-default applications for customers, new automation and new people capacity.”
Setting out its vision for the future, HMLR says it will make services and information easy to access, understand and use; use agreed data standards to digitise, sort and share data to support the property market; simplify digital systems to better protect property rights for property owners and to make buying and selling easier; and engage HMLR teams to create an environment where people feel valued and empowered to thrive and put customers first.
‘For more than 160 years, we have been holding and protecting records of property ownership in England and Wales’, the strategy explains.
“By providing a reliable public record of who owns property, we are helping to protect against fraud and supporting buying, selling, borrowing and lending against property – all of which supports the nation’s economy. This is why our registers are part of critical national infrastructure – securing over nearly £9 trillion in assets and £1.66 trillion in loans.
“The principles and importance of land registration have not changed over the last 160 years but the world in which we now provide our services has changed beyond recognition. For some time already, customers have expected quick and simple digital self-service as a bare minimum. The next generation of homeowners, as digital natives, will expect even more. Customers expect to be able to speak to an expert if they’re having problems getting what they need.”
The strategy sets two deadlines for achieving its aims to improve access to services: by 2030, data will be integrated with customers’ digital platforms to help speed up buying and selling, and by 2035 it will have ‘flexible, fully tailored systems and corresponding people support for customers’, who will be able to update simple changes to property ownership details themselves.
The use of simplified, digital systems for better protected property rights is a central theme of the strategy, and HMLR says it is committed to embracing new technology while protecting customers, registers and servies from cyber attacks and threats.
“One of the biggest challenges we have is that our information is still mainly text-based, and it is not structured in a way that allows us to get to and use the underlying data… We want a future where HM Land Registry’s services are fast, and our information is up to date, even when demand for our services is high. We will have developed new, simpler systems and processes that no longer rely on old technology – making our services safer, more secure, resilient and able to respond quickly to housing market peaks and troughs.”
A greater use of AI and technology to automate and speed up processes will be in place by 2030, with ‘near instant and accurate’ information accessible by 2035, the strategy promises.
Making property data findable, accessible, interporable and reusable will be central to its work, HMLR promises.
“Our data is a national asset. Our records hold an incredible wealth of information, including who owns a property, whether it’s freehold or leasehold and its mortgage status. They also tell buyers whether there are any restrictions on its use, such as listed building status, tree preservation orders and other environmental protections. We know there is significant untapped value in this data. Releasing it would not only realise that value but reduce duplication, fragmentation and waste for us and among the organisations that we work with.”
By 2030, HMLR commits to using agreed data standards, and by 2035 it says all property information it holds will be available and instantly accessible online.
The changes will be facilitated by investment in people and training to devleop the skills and expertise needed to deliver the fundamental goals of the strategy, HMLR said.
“We will create and deliver new learning and development plans that nurture talent, strengthen our leadership capacity to drive modern digital public services and embed a high-performance culture that is focused on and equipped to respond to our customers’ needs. We will continue to invest in developing our unique land registration skills, so we can deliver both the customer services we aspire to and support the Government’s implementation of housing reforms, some of which – like changes to leasehold and commonhold policies – will require us to refresh and build new knowledge.”
Commenting on the strategy, Iain Banfield, HMLR’s interim chief executive and chief land registrar, said:
“HM Land Registry is undergoing its most significant transformation in over 20 years to serve our customers better. Strategy 2025+ represents our commitment to unlock a better, faster and less stressful property market for everyone through improved digital services, enhanced expertise, and customer-centric approaches.
“This transformation will play a key role in supporting government ambitions – from building new homes and regenerating places, to unlocking clean energy infrastructure and transforming planning.”
2 responses
HM Land Registry’s “Ambitious Strategy”- Digital Dreams Built on Shaky Foundations? Faster, less stressful? Not until the Registry fixes its own failings
HM Land Registry (HMLR) has unveiled what Today’s Conveyancer calls an “ambitious new strategy for a faster, less stressful property market,” centred on digital transformation. The vision is enticing: mobile‑friendly services, real‑time updates, and a streamlined customer journey. Yet beneath the glossy rhetoric lies a troubling reality.
Registration Delays: The Unspoken Crisis
The Registry’s record on registration is already in crisis, with delays so severe they have been reported in the national press. Transactions stall, homeowners wait months or even years for title registration, and confidence in the system erodes. A promise of speed rings hollow when the Registry cannot deliver on its most basic function.
Data Migration: Errors That Undermine Trust
The Association of Independent Professional Search Agents (IPSA) has repeatedly warned of serious flaws in HMLR’s project to centralise Local Land Charges data. Migration has produced large numbers of errors, jeopardising the accuracy of property searches. In a market where precision is paramount, flawed data is not a minor inconvenience—it is a systemic risk. A digital system riddled with mistakes will only compound stress, not reduce it.
Cybersecurity: A Single Point of Failure
Digital ambition magnifies vulnerability. Slovakia’s land registry was paralysed in 2025 by the largest cyberattack in its history, freezing property transactions nationwide. HMLR’s centralisation strategy creates a similar single point of failure. If such an attack struck here, the consequences would be catastrophic: transactions halted, ownership records inaccessible, public trust shattered.
Misplaced Criticism of the Legal Professions
HMLR’s earlier commissioned report (Data Standards & Interoperability) criticised solicitors and conveyancers as “risk‑averse.” Yet this caution is not a defect—it is a professional duty. Property transactions are legal acts with profound consequences, not consumer‑tech purchases. Conveyancers safeguard clients against fraud, error, and loss. To dismiss their caution while the Registry itself struggles with accuracy and resilience is deeply ironic.
Conclusion: Ambition Must Be Grounded in Competence
HMLR’s new strategy is ambitious, but ambition without competence is reckless. Before promising a “faster, less stressful” market, the Registry must:
Resolve registration delays that undermine confidence.
Correct flawed data migration that jeopardises search accuracy.
Invest in robust cybersecurity, learning from Slovakia’s example.
Digital transformation is not a substitute for competence. Until the Registry proves it can deliver accuracy, resilience, and timeliness, its strategy risks being little more than a digital mirage. The real risk lies not with cautious conveyancers, but with a Registry that has yet to earn the trust it demands.
The ambition may be commendable, but the Land Registry today is not the organisation it once was.
Let’s not forget the damage done by the attempted privatisation in 2014–2016 – before that scandalous episode, it was a respected, self-funding public body, staffed by experienced registrars who understood the balance between accuracy, accountability, and access. Much of that institutional strength was lost when commercial and outsourcing pressures took over.
Digital systems can only ever be as reliable as the data and governance behind them. Setting transformation goals for 2030 and 2035 simply shows how much restoration is needed to make the system fit for purpose. The pace of digital advancement will outstrip their timeline long before they reach it. Until the Registry restores the standards of rigour and independent oversight that once defined it, any promise of a “faster, less stressful property market” risks repeating the same mistakes on a digital scale.
Modernisation is welcome – but it must be built on competence, integrity, and public confidence, not blind faith in automation.
The Government owes it to the public to put right what it broke and to fund a Land Registry worthy of national trust.