Fully avoidable requisitions make up nearly 5% of all applications to HM Land Registry according to newly published data aimed at helping conveyancers identify where issues are arising and what action may be taken to help reduce them.
Avoidable requisitions, the identification of a requisition that contains missing, unclear or inconsistent information which could usually have been prevented is a well-publicised measure by which HMLR is ranking firms. The avoidable requisition rate is the proportion of applications with fully avoidable requisitions compared with the total number of applications. The latest data covers the six months from October 2025 to March 2026 and reveals there were 78,894 fully avoidable requisitions amongst the 1.6 million submitted – an overall avoidable requisition rate of 4.9%.
In a blog accompanying the latest data, Andrew Robertson, head of customer policy at HMLR, said the latest figures showed continued improvement, with avoidable requisition rates down by 7% over the past six months.
The previous release covering the six months from April to September 2025 showed that fully avoidable requisitions made up 4.6% of the 1.3 million applications to HMLR. However, Robertson says comparisons with previous datasets is not advisable.
He explained: “The dataset is best used as part of a wider picture. Changes in application volumes can affect results, as can small changes in registration processes.”
Instead, Robertson suggests firms benchmark their figures against the current dataset to identify “patterns, priorities and areas for improvement”.
Of the 4722 firms listed, 32 had requisitions rates of 20% or above. By volume, this accounts for just 0.2% of total fully avoidable requisitions. Sublime Solicitors, Newmanor Law, Blackstone Law Services, Sara Binning Solicitors and H&S Legal make up the top five by percentage.
Around half of all firms (2294, or 49%) had above average avoidable requisitions rates, accounting for 70% of total avoidable requisitions. Just under a fifth (17%) of firms had no fully avoidable requisitions.
Taylor Rose tops the list by volume for the second time, with Enact, Knights, O’Neill Patient and Davisons all in the top five by volume at around 12% of all requisitions. However, it should be noted the average fully avoidable requisition rate of the top five by volume (4.2%) is less than the overall average (4.9%).
HMLR acknowledges it makes errors in sending requisitions where they may not have been needed, and says it continues to review training and processes to improve consistency.
In May, HMLR said it communicated with the ‘responsible person’ in each firm to advise them of their latest avoidable requisitions rate, with further updates ahead of the next publication of the data in December.
Concluding the blog, Robertson said firms were using the data to “review file-checking processes… target training, and… start conversations across teams about recurring errors”. He encourages firms to look at the issues that come up most often and take practical steps to address them.
The agency is running a series of webinars over June and July targeting common errors and providing a clear understanding of what common requisitions they receive and how to prevent them. HMLR’s training hub also offers free guidance and resources including webinars, videos and flowcharts.
