Delays at HM Land Registry is costing the property profession thousands of pounds in lost administrative time and effort… and potentially consumers looking to take advantage of falling interest rates.
Clients looking to remortgage now, with mortgage rates reducing again, will be less than pleased at not being able to process their transactions due to Land Registry delays. And it’s not unusual for mortgage lenders to chase conveyancers to chase the Land Registry for registration.
In an article in The Times one national journalist took HMLR to task for it’s failure to register a property from two years previously, jeopardising a proposed sale.
Speaking to Today’s Conveyancer, one experienced conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous has expressed their frustration, saying while they have sympathy with the challenges HMLR face, the delays faced by conveyancers are a longstanding issue.
“The Land Registry has thousands of transactions awaiting their attention for registration, whilst clients and mortgage lenders are left without their interests being registered, sometimes for years on end! The question remains as to why there are these incessant backlogs and what can be done to address the issue?”
“These issues are not new to the Land Registry and have been prevalent for the last three decades, despite HMLR having access to unlimited funds and expertise.”
Many of the cases that have not been registered are complicated cases, involving new build transactions, transfers of part and unregistered titles, with HMLR stating that they don’t have the expert manpower to register these properties. Indeed, The Times article highlighted two thirds of complex applications take over 12 months to register, with the failure to register a property increasing the risk of property fraud.
“We all appreciate HMLR are going through significant updates and digitisation to their services, but as with any other business, it shouldn’t be to the detriment of their day to day service.”
says the conveyancer.
“Imagine telling clients you were falling behind 2-4 weeks on transaction while you upgraded your CMS. It simply wouldn’t be acceptable service.”
Despite claims to the contrary, research continues to show dissatisfaction in HMLR’s services is intensifying with an Ipsos Mori survey tracking the percentage of customers rating the registry’s overall service as “eight” on a scale of one to 10. The findings showed that in 2022-23, 60% of customers rated its services as good to excellent, compared with 63% in 2021-22.
Conveyancers have a role to play of course. HMLR have been vocal about the number of unnecessary requisitions due to poor attention to detail and have introduced plans to place greater onus on conveyancers to provide ‘sign off’ on information provided to HMLR in order to speed up the data verification process.
Perhaps the Land Registry should recruit conveyancing experts to help them? With so many front line Conveyancers retiring in recent years, surely there is a pool of vastly experienced Conveyancers who could help to address the issue? It is heartening to read that HMLR have recruited and are training sufficient staff to meet the demand.
The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) have recently released a position paper in relation to Land Registry backlogs and the need for action, urging HMLR to do more to tackle the issue, acknowledging the role both conveyancers and the registry have to play in its resolution. SLC Chairperson, Simon Law said
“We fully recognise that conveyancers have a very important role to play in reducing the number of unnecessary requisitions and improve the quality of their submissions. However, the delays in registration of first title, transfers of part, and complex leasehold matters go back to 2016, and it is not appropriate to conflate the two issues, except in so far as eradicating the backlog will take pressure off post completions work, which in turn will help get routine submissions right first time.”
Concluding, the conveyancer says those who have been working in the conveyancing industry will say that HMLR delays have been prevalent long before the current challenges despite transaction numbers remaining largely the same year on year for a very long time. They are heartened to see progress but call on HMLR to move more quickly to achieve their stated objective of being the recognised for excellence globally. .
“We would all hope that with digitalisation and advances in technology, as well as unlimited funding, the Land Registry will get up to speed and stay in front of the demand. It is good to see innovations like providing Lenders with access to their cases online so that they can see if transactions are pending registration. This will help no doubt but dealing with the HMLR backlog is critical for all concerned.”
“Come on HMLR – sort it out please. We are all looking forward to the electronic signature of deeds and HM Land Registry being the best in the world.”
Today’s Conveyancer is gathering comments on the subject. Should you wish to share your thoughts please comments below or contact the media team at press@todaysconveyancer.co.uk.
7 responses
‘He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.’
Friedrich Nietzsche
The Land Registry remains is in a crisis of its own making. I recall a few years ago reading a letter from a Land Registry employee in the Law Society Gazette complaining bitterly about the Land Registry’s short-termism and letting go of many of its experienced staff.
Like its fellow members of the Home Buying and Selling Council with their obsession with digitisation, it has forgotten a fundamental fact, that at its heart land registration is recording a legal transaction, not a passport application. So the Land Registry must desist from its fantasy digital projects and re-connect with its core statutory duties.
Its lamentable performance is hurting the public and costing the housing market dear. Its severe failings is a key reason why conveyancing is being slowed down so dramatically.
The Law Society has a key role in pushing the Land Registry to get back to basics. With a Labour government wanting to facilitate mass house building our so-called ‘World Class’ land registry must concentrate on the legal basics.
Clearing the HMLR backlogs is something that would really help coalface conveyancers up and down the country.
This is what the Law Society really ought to be lobbying for (amongst other things) l, rather than meddling with protocol forms.
At the same time as HMLR were working out what to do when the first lockdown occurred, conveyancers were dealing with huge amounts of conveyancing, many working from home as varying levels of working from home were put into action.
I accept, as many would do, that everything was not done as well as one would have liked during that period by conveyancers but that was now quite a number of years ago and HMLR’s problems started before then.
At least now it is possible to speak to people on the phone-except Fridays.
“World Class”
I recall at a pre-covid conveyancing seminar the Chief Land Registrar giving a talk… After the talk, I asked the question why it is that they prioritise the simple AP1’s, e.g. freehold purchases of pre-existing with no restrictions and remortgages, yet a new build takes 2 years (or longer), i.e. why is it that a simple remortgage does not take 2 years. They are clearly not dealing with applications in the order they receive, but the ease with which to action. The question got a round of applause from the audience, but a very “flat” response to the question. I have seen no change since that question posed, in fact its got worse. It’s a life lesson – don’t put off to tomorrow what should be done today.
For me, I think because the staff are working from home, they are targeted to complete a certain number of applications a day. As they are not being supervised, the staff are picking out the easiest, quickest ones to deal with. Even matter such as co-trustees and form A restrictions are now for seniors to deal with. Bonkers.
I used to work at the Land Registry in 2001 but left shortly after to join a medium-sized law firm and undertake my training. The staff at the Land Registry at that time were extremely knowledgeable and courteous, they would ring to check minor errors on applications before amending on behalf of legal practitioners, and they knew a thing or two about customer service. It was also when we had specific Land Registry teams where named contacts regularly dealt with firms’ applications. By 2008 this had all disappeared because the Land Registry had got rid of all of its experienced staff and replaced them with Muppets who had very limited knowledge on very limited applications. This resulted in unnecessary requisitions being raised, the inability to actually speak to the person dealing with the application at the Land Registry and untold delays. The Land Registry are victims of their own demise and if there were ever an indication that chasing digital expansion at the expense of core services was sheer folly, this is it. Who remembers “Digital Street” and the Land Registry’s other such initiatives? Conveyancers please take note! The Land Registry need to get back to basics, which is dealing with the horrific backlog and go back to providing a service to be proud of.