HM Land Registry has announced the launch of a new strategy that will see the department deliver a more automated registration system.

Under the strategy, many more land registration processes will be automated to significantly improve service speeds for customers.

Strategy 2022+ has set out how HM Land Registry plans to transform land registration in England and Wales to cut delays for customers. These plans to deliver a “fully digital property market” will see significant investment to automate most changes to the land register by 2025, to result in the end-to-end automation of up to 70% of all updates to the register.

The Land Registry also intends to maintain accurate and fraud-free registers that provide trust and confidence in the property market, with automated applications to be completed within one day – and many of them in seconds.

Chief executive and chief land registrar of HM Land Registry, Simon Hayes, commented: “Strategy 2022+ comes at a pivotal moment. The very high level of activity in the property market in recent times has underlined the urgency with which all players in the market need to work together to improve the system.

“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.”

Currently, one in five applications to HM Land Registry – more than 3,500 applications every day – require the department to follow up with the applicant to resolve an issue in the application. This increases to around two in three for more complex cases, causing extensive delays to service times.

The Land Registry also estimates that 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 – and is therefore backing a new drive to digitise the information that the public and conveyancers need most.

HM Land Registry’s strategy is being supported by stakeholders from across the property and conveyancing sector.

Director of delivery at the Conveyancing Association, Beth Rudolf, commented: “In the past, HM Land Registry’s five-year strategic plans have referenced the move to digital/machine-readable and the creation of notional registers but this time it has already started the process through the delivery of the Digital Registration Service.

“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.”

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