HM Land Registry has been told it should reposition its service offering from that of a “data repository” to an organisation that “uses its data and expertise to unlock value for customers, the public sector and the wider economy”.
In a letter from parliamentary under-secretary of state Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Neil Sachdev, chair of the HM Land Registry board, Baroness Taylor outlines how the organisation must build on the success of the digitisation of local land charges and add more value when it comes to government priorities including home building and tenure reform.
Baroness Taylor acknowledged the “vital role” the data that HMLR holds has to play, particularly in the light of recent announcements regarding the delivery of new towns, and in supporting the implementation of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.
“HMLR will have a central role to play in delivering a reinvigorated commonhold system, and therefore should continue essential workforce and systems planning to get HMLR commonhold ready,” Baroness Taylor said.
Twelve months ago, the minister of state for housing, communities and local government Matthew Pennycook MP called on the Land Registry to restructure its charging model to focus on “increasing the ease of doing business in the property market and providing a simple and efficient customer experience”, with reference to making access to data for up front information free and minimising cost where possible.
In the letter to Sachdev, Baroness Taylor reiterated those calls, saying:
“HMLR should continue to work with my officials to consider options to restructure its fees and charges model, ensuring this work is aligned with the government’s plans to reduce the cost of living and the cost of home buying and selling.”
HMLR is currently in a period of transition following the departure of chief executive Simon Hayes in September 2025, and the retirement of deputy chief executive and director of customer and strategy Mike Harlow.
However, Baroness Taylor warns outstanding issues remain relating to speed of service and has reminded Sachdev of concerns raised with interim CEO Iain Banfield related to the “impact the age and volume of outstanding applications is having on customers and the operation of the housing market”.
She added:
“In the coming year, therefore, I am looking to you to ensure that HMLR builds on the recent success in this area and makes significant further progress in reducing the age of outstanding applications and reducing the number of outstanding applications. HMLR should implement a business plan that delivers improved, excellent and timely services that are resilient to market fluctuations.”
5 responses
Baroness Taylor’s call for HMLR to evolve from a simple “data repository to data empowerment” marks a pivotal shift. The state is increasingly leveraging data infrastructure to extend its influence over conveyancing.
Digitisation and transparency perhaps are inevitable. However, when a registry controls the data, sets the standards, and manages the workflow, it moves beyond influence—it assumes control. This is centralisation through technology rather than legislation.
Conveyancers should be alert. Without proactive engagement, your professional independence could be quietly eroded—not by overt policy changes, but through incremental, state-driven mechanisms.
One day, a future government might simply ‘turn off’ the property market by controlling these digital levers, halting transactions without the need for new laws.
Modernisation must empower professionals, not constrain them. It is essential to recognise and challenge this gradual shift—your profession’s future depends on it.
Why would you trust HMLR to do this? The rise in property fraud (which they are unable to prevent) and let’s not mention their appalling performance at registering properties (their primary job and they can’t even do that properly!)
Please tell me how has the Local Land Charges project been a success? only 40% of Local Authorities have been digitised in nearly 18 years!!! At huge cost, and this doesn’t even touch the CON29R elements.
The HMLR marketing team must be amazing….
I support entirely the comments of Stephen Larcombe. The Land Registry needs to be, as far as possible, independent of the whims of ministers of the day. Yes, there is room for improvement: indeed things were better when HMLR took a more active role in registrations, before their surveyors and support staff were made redundant, before they were centralised and became impersonal and ruled strictly by PGs, and when conveyancers were allotted a Team who would advise on the procedure in a case of difficulty.
Well if anyone wants a laugh at HMLR’s competence – colleague has just received a requisition asking if the deceased proprietor was legally represented! 🙄😂