Land Registry fee hike to net £27m more annually

HM Land Registry is set to pocket an extra £27 million a year following a fee hike that will come into effect on December 9, one organisation has calculated.

The increase will affect a range of services, including a £4 rise for electronically inspecting an individual register or plan.

Moverly, a provider of property information, has analysed the impact of this increase.

It found that over the past five years, an average of 6.7 million inspections were conducted annually.

At the current £3 per view, this generates £20.2 million for the Land Registry.

With the new £7 fee, the annual revenue from these inspections will surge to over £40 million.

‘Land Registry is increasing its costs’

The firm’s chief executive, Gemma Young, said: “HM Land Registry is increasing its costs in order to accelerate service improvement through digital transformation.

“For those who need access to much of this information to make an informed decision on property purchases, this increased cost is, in the grand scheme of things, by the by.

“But the total cost of all searches, which number more than six million a year, shows just how many people rely on this data.”

Land Registry information

The Land Registry information includes tenure type, any restrictive covenants or easements that are in place and land survey results.

There’s also access to any title plan or caution plan of an individual title.

Moverly says that while the cost of accessing this information on a one-time basis is far from prohibitive, the total amount being earned over a year with a fee increase is ‘astounding’.

HM Land Registry says that the £7 fee reflects the increased costs of running and improving its services and plans for increasing digitalisation and the transformation of data.

However, even with this price rise, it says that most customers will still be paying less than they were in 1992.