The Land Registry has insisted that its comments in a January blog regarding requisitions were not intended to point the finger of blame at conveyancers.
The blog, authored by Mike Harlow, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Customer and Strategy at HMLR, urged conveyancers to put a stop to “avoidable errors” in applications leading to over a million requisitions per year. He said at the time:
“We are asking everyone who submits applications to work with us and please make sure that applications are free of avoidable errors when they are lodged.”
Harlow’s comments were met with widespread backlash from within the conveyancing community, which led Stuart Forsdike and Lorraine Richardson, hosts of the YouTube series “Conveyancing Matters”, to question whether the blog, the reaction, and ongoing delays suggested the Land Registry had “lost its way”.
However, Harlow agreed to appear on the series with Forsdike and Richardson, subsequently stating his blog was “not intended to point the finger of blame at conveyancers”, apologising if this was the impression it gave.
The three then went on to discuss other topics such as Land Registry innovation, support for conveyancing firms, fraud, and more.
“Mike reminded us that the Land Registry has no choice over its workload – it is an organisation that has to deal with whatever is sent to it, whenever it is sent,” said Forsdike, who said he “appreciates how challenging that must be” as a firm owner himself. He added:
Richardson added that Harlow was “refreshingly open” about the current position of the Land Registry:
“He also rightly stressed the collaborative approach taken by the Land Registry and every conveyancing firm in the country and their joint contribution to the property industry, the importance of which underpins so much of the UK economy.”
Watch the full episode below:
