Land Registry urges lawyers to advise clients to register their land

The Land Registry is urging lawyers to advise their clients to register their land in order to guarantee ownership by the state. Forty per cent of land remains unregistered in England and Wales. The Land Registry found that six counties in Wales, including Anglesey, Pembrokeshire and Wrexham, had the least registered land, with between 36% and 51% being registered. Cumbria and North Lincolnshire closely followed, with less than 50%. In order to deal with the issue, the Land Registry has set up an initiative to encourage landowners to register their land voluntarily by offering a 25% discount on the usual fee for registration. Mike Westcott-Rudd, the Land Registry’s corporate services lawyer said: “We know that landowners listen to their lawyers, and that is why it is so important that we let everyone in the legal profession know about the benefits of voluntary land registration. Our aims are to make voluntary registration of ownership as straightforward as possible and to raise awareness of how registering land modernises and simplifies existing information and reduces the amount of title paperwork, saving time and giving the best possible title guarantee.”