Land Registry outlines plans for automated applications to speed-up sales

The Land Registry has set out ambitious plans to automate up to 70% of all updates to its register by 2025 to speed up property sales.

The organisation has outlined a three-year business plan, warning that the current homebuying process “does not meet some basic expectations for a modern, professional service.”

It said: “We know that people find the process stressful and confusing. HM Land Registry will work with the property market to co-create a homebuying process of the future that is quicker, more efficient and more user friendly.”

The Land Registry has promised significant investment to ensure that automated applications will be completed within one day – many of them in seconds.

It aims to work with the industry so that almost half of its simplest applications are automated between 2023 and 2024 and up to 70% by 2025.

The Land Registry also expressed its support for more upfront information in property sales.

It said: “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.

“A new drive to rapidly digitise the information the public and conveyancers need most will allow people to access Land Registry’s information on ownership, location, mortgages, local land charges and more in real time, so that when making a decision, people are better informed and buying and selling property is quicker and less uncertain. 

“This will benefit those involved in all types of property transactions, both residential and commercial.”
 

The Land Registry said it will work with the property sector to enable property to be bought and sold digitally such as through digital ID and e-signatures.

It will introduce new standards and work with property partners to create an open, integrated ecosystem of digital services.

This will mean people only need to provide their information once rather than sending the same data to different people multiple times throughout the process of a transaction, the Land Registry said.

The Land Registry also said it wants to help clear the current conveyancing backlog, highlighting that one in five - more than 3,500 every day - require a follow up to resolve an issue.
Simon Hayes, chief executive of the Land Registry, 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.

“As we do so, we are placing people – those buying and selling property – at the heart of our transformation.”