Land Registry – Delays and digitisation

With the government announcement on 9 February of a 12-week project aiming to move forward with digitisation of the home buying and selling process, a Conveyancing Matters chat with Mike Harlow could not be more timely!

 Mike is the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Customer and Strategy at HM Land Registry and joins Stu and Lorraine for a wide-ranging chat. Stuart jumps in at the deep end by asking Mike about the industrial action by HM Land Registry staff that is currently taking place and Lorraine asks Mike why a straightforward registration can take 12 weeks to process. Mike is honest in his appraisal but also reminds conveyancing firms that they must ‘play fair’ when applying to speed up a registration application.

 The conversation moved on to other areas of significance to conveyancing lawyers and everyone involved with the property market, including digitisation, the increased use of technology in the property market and where liability lies in the event of hacking. As Lorraine said: ‘The L word – liability – is the key for a lot of people.’

 What is your view of digitisation? Will the government’s vision of ‘opening up key property information’ and moving forward with digital identity services really ‘slash transaction times’? 

Remember, this is just a chat and our opinions, not advice!