Property search information could be available from a single national electronic database if a prototype being developed by the Land Registry is successful.

The Registry has announced that seven local authorities will take part in a pilot scheme to see if their local land charge information can be consolidated into a digitised central register.

If successful, the central register could provide search information alongside the Land Registry’s title register, to a standardised price, format and turnaround time, the Registry said.

The local authorities taking part in the pilot are Sefton, Liverpool, Denbighshire, Newark and Sherwood, Swindon, Havant and Watford.

The Registry also hopes to be able to provide Con 29 information - a standard set of enquiries including public footpaths, building control regulations and property related entries, the copyright for which is owned by the Law Society – and supply Coal Authority (CON29 M) search results.

Ministers gave approval for the prototype to begin after conducting feasibility work with the Cabinet Office and ‘a range of customers and stakeholders’.

A pilot, which will run in parallel with the current service, will finish at the end of December, when it will be reviewed and evaluated. Legislation will be required before the Land Registry will be able to provide the service nationally.

Chief land registrar and chief executive Malcolm Dawson said: ‘There are huge variations in how local land charges and Con 29 information is held across local authorities, ranging from paper record cards and plans to scanned data and microfiche, resulting in variations in cost, quality and speed.’

He said the new scheme would improve the efficiency of conveyancing, providing ‘easy and transparent’ access to land and property information by creating for the first time a single digital channel and integrated dataset across all local authorities.

Chair of the Law Society conveyancing and land law committee Jonathan Smithers said the move would be ‘good news for everyone’, from home-buyers to mortgage lenders and conveyancers.

He said: ‘The digitisation could result in standardised fees, response times and general service levels. Consumers could be given more certain information about conveyancing costs.

‘It could also make the information that home-buyers and their mortgage lenders need more readily available and useable,’ he said.