HM Land Registry (HMLR) is amongst 124 government departments that will strike on 1st February amidst ongoing disputes over pay, pensions, jobs, and redundancy terms, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union has confirmed.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS Union, said the PCS “warned the government our dispute would escalate if they did not listen – and we’re as good as our word”.
HMLR said at the end of 2022 that they were attempting to reduce the impact of strikes on property transactions, stating they’re “reviewing the controls it has in place to mitigate and reduce the impacts of all identified risks” arising from strike action, adding they “anticipate minimal disruption”.
Yet, conveyancers around the country will shudder at this news regardless – especially in the context of the Land Registry’s contingency planning for previous predicaments, with the Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) telling Today’s Conveyancer that HMLR’s pre-Covid planning was “non-existent”.
What impact will the strikes have on the conveyancing process?
Suman Dally, partner and head of conveyancing at Shoosmiths, said the action is “likely to compound existing challenges”, adding it could have a “significant impact on obtaining or resolving issues with priority searches on the day for completions”. Dally suggested the onus is on conveyancers to plan ahead to reduce this impact:
“Conveyancers must take preparatory steps to ensure they have their priority searches in advance of any strike action. This is not always easy when completion is unexpected, but if there is any inclination a matter may complete, or a priority search may be required, then it is best to prepare ahead of time.”
Peter Ambrose, Managing Director of The Partnership, added:
“Whilst we understand that Land Registry is reviewing the controls it has in place to reduce the impact, it is clear that any action will have a negative impact for our clients […] The backlog that they are struggling to clear will only get worse.”
On the lenders’ side, a spokesperson for Leeds Building Society did not comment on whether they plan to liaise directly with HMLR on the progress of submitted applications or whether they foresee conveyancers being responsible for this. They did, however, expect HMLR to have “tried and tested plans” in place to reduce the impact of strike action as they are “no different to most organisations”.
Indeed, the SLC said HMLR’s anticipation of “minimal disruption” suggests plans are in place – though their concern remains regarding nonstandard transactions:
“The Society’s fear is that whilst there may be minimal disruption in respect of routine transactions which are undertaken electronically, strike action by the expert staff dedicated to resolving the backlogs in nonstandard transactions would negatively impact on HMLR’s plans [for] reducing and ultimately eliminating them. This would be hugely frustrating and upsetting for conveyancers across the board.”
Some, however, are less concerned. Stewart Brymer, Director, Brymer Legal, said “it may well be that there will be less disruption to HMLR’s services as a result of their digital transformation programme having been accelerated as a result of the pandemic”, adding disruption on scale seen during the national postal strike is unlikely.
Brymer did, however, note that “there has to be a risk to transactions and therefore increased potential for fraud if Land Registry functions are disrupted”.
Lloyd Davies, Managing Director of Convey Law and Chairman of the Conveyancing Foundation, said it is “inconceivable” that HMLR should strike, but “if they do then they need to make sure that all appropriate search and protection service are not affected so that clients and conveyancers are not affected”. On the strikes’ impact, he quipped:
“The majority of HMLR transaction registration timelines are so long that if this section went on strike no one would notice unfortunately!”
This was echoed by David Jabbari, CEO, Muve:
“The cynic would say that the delays are already so long that a few days of strike action cannot make it much worse.”
Do conveyancers agree with the strike action?
A common theme is that, while the reasoning for the strikes cannot be disputed and should have the wholehearted support of the industry, conveyancers feel the action – and its impacts – is difficult to support.
Indeed, a Today’s Conveyancer poll of 160 conveyancers* found a staggering 85% do not support HMLR’s decision to participate in the PCS Union’s strike action.
“I do not think there will be very much sympathy at all for this action,” said David Jabbari, adding:
“The Land Registry is already seen as a hugely inefficient and outdated institution, and this will just reinforce the view that it needs profound restructuring.”
Stewart Brymer commented:
“These are obviously challenging economic times with everyone having to deal with incomes not keeping pace with high inflation and other matters. This is not just a UK issue. I have every sympathy for people facing uncertain financial circumstances, but am of the opinion that strike action should always be a last resort.”
Lloyd Davies said the poor registration timelines for decades – exacerbated by Covid – mean the strikes will not be received with “any level of empathy” from the industry.
The SLC said that though it will not opine HMLR’s decision and the level of sympathy they’ll receive from conveyancers, they would’ve preferred the strikes not to transpire and that a negotiated settlement could’ve instead been reached.
4 responses
The Land Registry was a flagship for gradual change and innovation.
Unfortunately Covid has broken it.
It can be rebuilt but the main issue now isn’t digital transformation but lack of consistency in relation to Requisitions and a failure to deal with all backlogs.
Conveyancers already have to work around the rubbish that the Land Registry consistently and constantly produce, why not another challenge for Conveyancers to work around? The Land Registry, are frankly, a nonsense. It’s never their fault, is it?
Who will notice any difference?
It’s going to be inconvenient, but having spoken to friends and family who are civil servants, if the land reg is being treated like other departments I think I may have some sympathy.
How many staff do they actually have at the moment? There were definitely office closures a few years back. Did they get rid of staff too?