Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of processing times at HM Land Registry.

Improving speed of service remains a top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). Plans to achieve this will be outlined in its forthcoming Strategy 2025+ being published shortly.

As its sponsor department, MHCLG holds HMLR to account for performance and operational delivery and are in regular communication with HMLR about their processing times.

HMLR has been making improvements in this area through hiring and training more staff and by improving the efficiency of the services its customers use. The introduction of new pre-submission validation checks will speed up processes and reduce staff time spent on dealing with errors or mistakes. The age of outstanding post-completion applications is now under 12 months across all service lines, from a peak of 20 months in February 2023.

HMLR processing times are publicly available on gov.uk here.

Anyone who is concerned that a delay to their application may cause financial, legal or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. HMLR processes nearly 1,400 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% actioned within 10 working days.