Land Registry complaints – What’s the point?

Land Registry complaints – What’s the point?

I am a specialist in complaint resolution and provide an Independent Complaint Review service for Land Registry. I can’t, of course, give an opinion on whether legal decisions made by Land Registry are correct, but I can explore the causes of problems and recommend solutions. While I do not have power to recommend compensation I can propose a consolatory payment to reflect distress and inconvenience a customer has experienced.

Customers must go through Land Registry’s internal complaints process before they can approach me and the number of cases reaching me is small. The cases are often complex and a key challenge for me is to disentangle the facts and to understand both the customer’s and Land Registry’s perspective.

It is vital for me to remain firmly independent of organisations for which I provide a service. On the other hand, I aim to get to know each organisation’s vision and how it works so that I can make my findings perceptive and my recommendations realistic.

My annual report for Land Registry for 2015-16 gives facts and figures about my work, outlines the main themes and lessons from the year’s complaints and gives examples of changes made by Land Registry as a result from my recommendations.

I investigated 59 complaints and upheld or partially upheld 29% of complaint issues. Readers of Today’s Conveyancer may not be too surprised that one of the main lessons of 2015-16, as of previous years, is that customers often do not realise that Land Registry’s role – while hugely complex and requiring great professional expertise and integrity – is essentially administrative, and that the legal guarantee of title means that that the register provides legal proof of ownership, not a guarantee that Land Registry will protect the boundaries of each title. My job in these cases is to explain in simple terms what Land Registry can and can’t do, and if possible to make some practical suggestions on the way forward.

A number of cases highlighted how difficult it can be to correct mistakes made by Land Registry. Even when Land Registry is satisfied that there has been a mistake and is very clear about what needs to be done to correct it, it may not be able to make the correction unless it can get the agreement of the property-owners affected. If Land Registry makes a change of its own initiative, there are no arrangements for any objections to be resolved. So Land Registry generally asks the customer requesting the correction to make a formal application for alteration of the register so that any dispute can be referred to the Land Registration division of the Property Chamber, First-tier Tribunal. It is good to see that the Law Commission, in its 2006 consultation on land registration law, has identified these difficulties and outlined various options to improve the situation.

Other complaints raised issues such as Land Registry’s response to complaints of delay, access for non-professionals to Land Registry’s on-line services and the handling of enquiries from customers with disabilities.

Actions taken by Land Registry in the last 12 months as a result of my findings and recommendations include:

  • Preparation of new guidance on evidence of identity
  • Re-writing of some standard notices to include more information
  • Clarification of wording on GOV.UK regarding price paid information
  • Reminding staff of the importance of addressing all points raised in correspondence and, where appropriate, explaining why Land Registry cannot give an answer
  • Launch of new staff training on how to identify and deal with complaints
  • New guidance on general boundaries.

As the property market is adjusting to the referendum result and we are awaiting the Government’s decision on the privatisation of Land Registry, it is vital to maintain a robust complaints process for Land Registry customers – with the option of external review. An effective complaints procedure gives customers assurance that their voices will be heard, and also helps Land Registry keep its eye on the ball during a time of change.

Elizabeth Derrington, Independent Complaints Reviewer

6 Comments

  • I complained to ICR about Land registry. She said I had to complain to land registry itself first. I had already done this. However I complained again to LR. My complaint has been ignored. Now I am stuck with another pointless set of forms to fill in. I have to provide A Stamp Duty form 1 and 4. Stamp Duty is only paid on properties costing over £125 000. My 2 properties together cost £50, 200. I have to provide evidence that I haven’t paid SD but of course I haven’t paid it because I don’t need to. SD forms are not available online. LR must send them in the post and are they in a hurry? What do you think?
    IMO LR insist on pointless documentation being provided so as to give themselves work. There would be a better way of paying LR, not by amount of forms they fill in (as they are capable of inventing as many as they like and waste my time and theirs), but to pay them by speedy conclusion: give LR officers a bonus for processing Transfer forms. THEN THEY will want to get rid of the tiresome paperwork. This will save money : instead of LR filling in reams of stupid wasteful paper and nitpicking over it (which they get paid for) they will speedily get the work done so they get the bonus.

  • I’ve found Land Registry absolutely appalling in their refusal to admit their blatantly obvious error. Their wriggling to deflect and deny blame would be amusing if it weren’t so distressing.

  • The Land Registry are mixing up Ordnance Survey maps which use different black line systems for identifying streams depending upon which year the map is produced . 1960s Ordnance Survey maps used two black lines for streams over 3 ft wide. The Land Registry new system only uses one black line to represent a stream. As a consequence of this mix up the Land Registry blunder along boundary lines taking peoples land away in order to get an extra black line when they misinterpret two black line Ordnance Survey stream maps for one black line Ordnance Survey maps. The stream bed is then misinterpreted for other peoples land on the opposite side of the stream. The Land Registry then argue that the maps they accept are not using two black lines to represent a stream. This is due to the absolute rubbish maps sent in by conveyancing solicitors and accepted by the Land Registry which have been completely distorted by very bad photo copying when they were drastically reduced in size from very large maps down to A4. The incompetent Land Registry are failing to carry out adequate checks on maps which use old Ordnance Survey systems and which are completely distorted by very bad photocopying when these maps are compressed down in size. The Land Registry even deny a map uses two black lines to represent a stream when the map has 1960s land parcel numbers on it . A single black line for a stream over 3 ft wide did not get used until 1974 on Ordnance Survey maps .

  • I am changing the parties on my mortgage to just myself from a tenancy in common. All the work on this was completed in Jan 2022, with the other tenant paid his share of equity through his solicitor at this time. The final thing to be done was to have the tenancy in common removed from the Land Registry record to just my name. My solicitor has apparently been contacting the Land Registry on frequent occasions, but after nearly a year the entry for my property has still not been changed. My lender won’t adjust the mortgage until there is confirmation of the Land Registry change. It is absolutely ridiculous that it has taken this amount of time

  • I have experience of long, unnecesary delays and after complaining , am now seeing their Power of ‘ discretion ‘ used in favour of objectors to my Application, which is no co incidence. One such discretion was the Power to ignore a defined limitation to respond in Law. While this ‘ discretion ‘ exists, they have the power to scupper Applications ( or make them painful and a risk of unnecesary expensive ) as a response to being unsatisfied with their protracted times to deal with their turnaround times.

  • We bought a house at Auction over a year ago but there seems to be a delay with transferring the title deeds to my name. I have a mortgage offer which was valid for 5 months about to expire. Our conveyancing solicitor states they are being ignored. We have had a call back from Peter at the land registry who after taking my details and my query as to why it was taking so long, sighed and hung up. I was in no way rude or raised my voice, in fact I had thanked him for being the first person to respond to my messages. We are in serious danger of losing our finance and face having to resell our home at a loss because of this mess.

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