New 拢26 million fund to help local authorities speed up data transfers
HM Treasury is providing additional financial support for councils migrating their local land charges service to HM Land Registry.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, The Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP,聽has聽announced the creation of a 拢26 million fund to help deliver a faster property search service for homebuyers in England and Wales through a national Local Land Charges Register.
Last December, we shared our聽ambition to聽migrate all local authorities in England and Wales onto the central register by 2025. This funding makes that target more achievable and will ensure聽the homebuying process becomes quicker and simpler for everyone.
Local authorities who transfer their聽local聽land聽charges data to our Local Land Charges (LLC) Register within an agreed timescale will receive transition payments. In addition they will continue to receive existing burdens payments. This means the overall financial support available to local authorities is now more than 拢40 million.
Karina Singh, HM Land Registry聽Director of Transformation,聽said:
We understand the uncertain economic landscape facing many local authorities and the resourcing issues this creates. In the UK, property remains one of the single largest investments many people make. We want to help buyers get the information they need, in a faster and simpler manner.
Research suggests that 6% of property transactions fail, costing between 拢700 and 拢2,700 per transaction. By enabling earlier access to LLC information these costs should reduce, making the conveyancing process better for all parties.
All local authorities who migrate their LLC service to the central register will qualify for a payment when聽they聽meet their scheduled milestones.聽This will give them greater financial certainty that they can meet incidental costs, when seamlessly moving their service to the LLC Register.
For more information visit our Local Land Charges Programme page.