Completion times for applications to update the land register are ranging from minutes to eight months, according to Land Registry's latest performance update.

To highlight the sheer scale of the number of applications Land Registry deals with on a daily basis, the agency said it received 430,000 applications to update the register in December alone, which represented 18% of its total intake.

Register update services include registering property transfers, updating charges against a property and changing names on a property.

Just over a third of applications to update the register, such as applications to remove a mortgage or register a standard form of restriction, are automated and completed within minutes. However, Land Registry said that half the remaining applications, such as changing a name or transferring a property title, take four weeks. Most are completed in just under four months but ‘we know that in some instances these applications are taking just under eight months to complete,’ the agency said.

Land Registry is currently receiving 43,000 complex 'register creates' applications a month, with just over half taking more than a year to complete.

The agency said complex applications, such as multi-title applications submitted by developers, include more errors and omissions. As much as two-thirds require further clarification or further information. Almost all first registrations are being completed within 14 months, ‘but a minority might take a few weeks longer depending on the application’.

Where 'preparatory work' has been done, nearly half of applications to divide existing titles or register a new lease are taking just over 10 months and almost all are completed in under 20 months. 

As well as recruiting more than 1,000 additional caseworkers over the last five years to speed up processing times, Land Registry said it wants 70% of applications to change the register to be automated in the next three years. Currently, 29% of applications are automated.

‘We are also exploring short-term approaches. One includes our having created two dedicated teams focused on the oldest complex cases with a specific goal to reduce the processing times for these applications. We are looking at ways to work with customers to reduce the number of times we chase for clarification or additional information,’ the agency added.

 

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