Delays at His Majesty’s Land Registry have become so severe that they’re now disrupting homeowners’ ability to remortgage or sell their properties. One mortgage broker even reported dealing with a case where the purchase of a home has yet to be registered — five years on.
Every change in property ownership in England and Wales must be formally recorded with the Land Registry. This official register contains vital information such as ownership details, outstanding mortgages, and the price paid for the property.
According to the Land Registry, a little over 30 per cent of applications to update the register are processed automatically and completed within minutes. These tend to involve straightforward matters, such as removing a mortgage entry once the loan has been fully repaid.
However, the majority of other applications — including those involving changes to names or transferring ownership — take much longer. While around half of these are completed in 11 weeks, most typically take up to seven months to be finalised.
New build properties are particularly affected. Updates to these records often fall under more complex cases, and about 51 per cent of such applications take between 12 and 18 months to process. Alarmingly, nearly 4 per cent of these cases end up taking even longer.
One striking example comes from Cheshire, where a development known as CB Homes Kingsley has seen no Land Registry updates at all. These properties were built over two years ago, yet the registration process remains incomplete.
The news agency Newspage, which investigated the issue, highlighted how this is not an isolated case. Delays of this nature are happening across various regions, raising broader concerns about the efficiency of the system.
Industry professionals are growing increasingly frustrated. For both buyers and sellers, these bureaucratic hold-ups can cause deals to fall through or significantly delay property transactions.
Mortgage brokers and legal professionals are also being forced to navigate these prolonged waits, which complicate their ability to support clients and meet deadlines.
Some are now calling for greater investment in automation and staffing at the Land Registry to help clear the backlog. Others argue for clearer communication from the agency, so people know what to expect.
While digital processes have helped speed up some updates, the system clearly still struggles with anything deemed complex or unusual.
This growing backlog raises a fundamental question about how long buyers and sellers can reasonably be expected to wait — and whether the current infrastructure is fit for purpose.
Until significant improvements are made, more homeowners may find themselves stuck in limbo, unable to move forward with important financial decisions.
A mortgage broker has raised concerns about significant delays at HM Land Registry, stating that a client’s remortgage application has been stalled for five years due to an unresolved title registration. Riz Malik of R3 Wealth explained that despite the rapid pace of technological advancement, such as artificial intelligence, delays of this magnitude remain a serious issue in the property sector.
Malik expressed his frustration, saying that in today’s digital age, it’s baffling that a property transaction could remain incomplete for half a decade. The case he highlighted is still sitting on his desk unresolved, significantly hindering his client’s remortgage plans and causing unnecessary financial strain.
He described the system as broken and called for immediate reform, especially if the UK aims to streamline and improve the efficiency of the home buying and selling process.
In response to ongoing criticism, HM Land Registry has acknowledged the backlog and processing delays. On the official Government website, the organisation states
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