HM Land Registry registers the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It provides property owners with title guaranteed by the government.
Many conveyancing solicitors deal with Land Registry on an almost daily basis and may well be familiar with its role. But there are some aspects of Land Registry’s service worth discussing in more detail.
Once a property has been registered with Land Registry, your client can sign up to its free property monitoring service, Property Alert. An individual does not have to own a property to register for Property Alert, but usually it will be the registered owner.
Your client will receive an email when official searches and applications are received against the property. This can help check for signs of property fraud.
Property Alert does not block any changes made to the register but will alert your client to take action, if needed.
Read more about Property Alert
If you think property fraud has been committed, or you have concerns about a transaction, you can:
You should also contact Land Registry immediately if you receive communications that claim to be from Land Registry, including an acknowledgement of an application, and you cannot verify the:
Before you begin an application, Land Registry will expect you to check:
If an application is incomplete or contains errors, Land Registry will raise a requisition. This is a request for further information to complete the application.
Land Registry says that over 40% of requisitions could be avoided. This is because information is often missing, despite it being:
Sometimes requisitions are unavoidable, for example when Land Registry asks for something unusual or unexpected.
Land Registry has guidance on how to avoid requisitions, including videos on the most common issues. You can avoid a requisition by:
Read Land Registry’s guidance on avoidable and unavoidable requisitions
Some of the most common requisitions relate to:
Land Registry publishes data on its top 500 customers responsible for the highest number of applications.
Download the latest Land Registry requisitions data
Read Land Registry’s blog on why it publishes requisitions data
Read Land Registry’s article from Property in Practice magazine on avoiding requisitions
Law Society and Land Registry guidance on joint ownership
Law Society guidance on early completion
Property in Practice magazine includes regular updates from Land Registry:
