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Homeowners left out of pocket after two-year delays at UK Land Registry

Long delays in registering properties with the Land Registry across Great Britain are causing frustration among homeowners and buyers with some being left out of pocket as a result.

The latest figures from His Majesty’s Land Registry show that it is taking almost two years for some applications to make changes to the register to be completed.

The land registration system was designed to make property transfers more efficient. More than 26m titles, showing evidence of ownership for more than 88% of the land mass of England and Wales, are registered.

But professionals helping people get onto the property ladder or to get a new mortgage deal as interest rates soar, cite shocking examples of delay. Emma Jones, managing director of mortgage brokers When The Bank Says No, said one of her clients who bought their property through the right-to-buy scheme in December 2021 is still not registered as owner.

Jones said another client had tried to get his wife’s name added to the mortgage deeds at the start of this year, but six months later realised that the request had not been completed. “We had been arranging a mortgage for him to secure a new rate, but this would not be complete while there was a pending application to the Land Registry,” Jones said.

The delay meant the client had to make a costly payment at a variable rate at the start of July after the Bank of England had raised interest rates to 5% until he could secure a reissued offer.

Gary Boakes, a mortgage planning consultant and owner of Verve Financial, said one of his clients had discovered their purchase of a Help to Buy property had not been registered when they tried to move from a mortgage with a sub-prime lender to Natwest to get a better rate in August last year. “It took months to sort out, so they ended up going on a standard variable rate, which was ridiculously high,” Boakes said.

He said the client could not get a better mortgage offer for a further 10 months because of the delay.

The most recent HMLR data shows some applications to register land or property for the first time are taking more than 15 months.

Some applications to divide existing titles or register a new lease take more than 22 months to be completed. Leases remaining unregistered may mean that a homeowner cannot sell their property.

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