In a blog on the Land Registry website, Mike Harlow, deputy chief executive and director of customer and strategy, said that it was “frequently” having to go back to applicants to “correct an easily avoidable mistake or ask for missing information”, describing it as one of the main obstacles the body faces in improving transaction times.
Harlow said that the Land Registry tends to send around one million requisitions (requests for information) a year, and that in 2022 more than half involved one or more issues that could have been avoided.
In the blog, he noted that the request to correct errors or receive missing information delays the application for an average of two weeks in the simplest cases, stretching to six weeks for more complex applications. However, he warned that there will be times when it can take “significantly longer” if a prolonged back and forth takes place.
The Land Registry is taking action to make it less likely that it needs to send out these requisitions ‒ for example, applications sent through its digital registration services are increasingly validated before the application is submitted. It is also looking at faster ways of correcting those issues, such as through phone calls with applicants.
However, Harlow also urged conveyancers to raise their game in order to reduce the number of requisitions required.
He said: “We are asking everyone who submits applications to work with us and please make sure that applications are free of avoidable errors when they are lodged.
“This simple quality control makes life easier and faster for all of us. It averts potential headaches such as cancellation of the application and the risk of errors in the register.
