HM Land Registry has launched a new strategy to create a more efficient, fully digital property market and a matching modern land registration system
In ‘Strategy 2022+, Enabling a world-leading property market’, HM Land Registry have set out how they intend to transform land registration in England and Wales, creating a digital property market to utilize the potential of digital tools and solutions.
HM Land Registry has invited the UK property sector to collaborate in creating a simpler, paperless and transparent process for buying and selling property.
HM Land Registry’s new three-year Business Plan, a clear roadmap for how the organisation will implement the strategy and deliver improvements for customers, has also been announced.
Digital tools such as automation will allow more caseworkers more time to resolve issues with more complex property transactions
Strategy 2022+ is informed by the need to build resilience in HM Land Registry to volatility in the property market, which they identify as the leading cause of application backlogs.
Under the strategy, many more land registration processes will be automated to significantly improve service speeds for customers by 2025.
End-to-end automation of up to 70% of all updates to the register and further investment will give HM Land Registry the capacity and capability to deliver its services swiftly even in periods of very high demand.
Under the new strategy automated applications will be completed within one day. Efficient handling of simpler application types through automation should allow caseworkers to dedicate more time on more complex property transactions, further reducing wait times.
HM Land Registry have also expressed a desire to work with conveyancers- who are facing the pressure of increasing demand in the market-to help reduce inefficiencies elsewhere in the process.
Allowing better access to vital information
A lack of upfront information can cause up to 8% of property transactions to fall through, costing the buyer up to £2,700 per transaction.
HM Land Registry will encourage the sector to adopt new technology – such as digital ID and e-signatures – by introducing new standards and working with property partners to create an open, integrated ecosystem of digital services that support property transactions.
This will mean that people only need to provide their information once – rather than sending the same information to different people multiple times throughout the process of a transaction.
Allowing access to HM Land Registry’s information on ownership, location, mortgages, local land charges and more in real-time will support this, allowing people to make the best-informed decisions when buying and selling property.
Opening up property data to benefit the UK economy
Strategy 2022+ also sets out HM Land Registry’s commitment to open up property data so that it is more transparent, easier to use and supports a strong, sustainable economy and the UK’s Net Zero targets.
These pledges include to complete the new instant-access Local Land Charges register within the next four years, which is expected to add around £3bn to the UK economy.
The Registry are also committed to making their data more findable, accessible, interoperable with other data and reusable (or ‘FAIR’).
This property data has already supported 137 start-ups to develop new products and services and has created more than 1,500 jobs, such as the Digital Street research and development programme and Geovation accelerator.
Chief Executive and chief land registrar of HM Land Registry, Simon Hayes, said:
“With property transactions taking record time to complete, it is imperative that we work as partners to innovate and remove friction so that the process is as quick and painless as possible.
“For HM Land Registry, that means a step-change in our offering to customers so that they receive an outstanding, fully digital service.”
HM Land Registry’s digital property market strategy is supported by stakeholders from across the property and conveyancing sector
Supporters of Strategy 2022+ include the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the Conveyancing Association, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Council of Property Search Organisations, the Law Society, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Society of Licensed Conveyancers and UK Finance.
Business Minister Lord Callanan said:
“Industries across the economy stand ready to seize on the digital revolution and the UK’s world-renowned property market is no different. The digitisation proposals in this strategy will help the Land Registry deliver more efficient and user-friendly services, while driving productivity and growth for the sector.
“These proposals, along with other action the Land Registry is taking such as the completion of a Local Land Charges register, will provide a boost to households and businesses engaging with the property market throughout the UK, supporting our ambitious Levelling Up agenda.”
Beth Rudolf, director of Delivery at the Conveyancing Association, said:
“This is very encouraging in an industry where we need to be able to deliver digitally for the consumer and other stakeholders in order to reduce the waste of the extended transaction times and fall-through rates, and to enable the consumer to understand the implications of the title on their intended use and enjoyment to reduce claims and therefore PII premiums.”
President of the Law Society of England and Wales, I. Stephanie Boyce, said:
“We welcome HM Land Registry’s new business strategy and the focus on digital. Technological change in the conveyancing market, which was accelerated because of the COVID-19 pandemic, continues at pace.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Land Registry and the industry more widely to further digitise the conveyancing process, to promote better and earlier decision-making and make residential property transactions smoother for buyers and sellers.”
