The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, yesterday set out a wide-ranging work programme that will enhance the development of electronic conveyancing.
The works programme has been developed by an interdepartmental steering group of officials in response to HM Land Registry’s Quinquennial Review 2001.
The key elements of the programme are:
- the development of world-class electronic conveyancing, to bring greater transparency to chains of transactions, to end expensive paper handling and storage and to remove the delays caused by sending paper documents from place to place;
- further promotion of the National Land Information Service, to bring buyers and sellers quicker, more efficient property search results electronically from a single supplier;
- extended coverage of the Land Register, to provide more information about each property and extend the benefits of registration and e-conveyancing to more of those who own properties and leases;
- combining the Land Register’s improved data on property transactions – particularly commercial sales – with information from other sources to help to make the property markets more transparent and efficient;
- the creation of a new independent adjudication service for land registration disputes; and
- consideration by the Land Registry of new specialist advisory services to help customers with their applications, to provide expert consultancy overseas and to provide genealogical and historical information from its records.
Lord Irvine said: “These modernisation plans, in particular the development of electronic conveyancing services, will bring major benefits to both homebuyers and businesses in their dealings in land and property. They will make the property market more transparent and the property transaction process faster, cheaper and more efficient.
“The Land Registry and the other government departments and agencies concerned will work with those who have an interest in land and property markets to take forward the programme’s various elements over the next 10 years.”
References: Propert-e News 14/12/01
