CoPSO Comments of the HMLR Local Land Charges Project
A number of CoPSO members attended the HMLR Local Land Charges Conference at Villa Park on Wednesday 2nd October to catch up on progress with this important project.
First of all, It is worth restating that CoPSO is entirely supportive of the Local Land Charges centralisation project and its objective to digitise data and make it available in real time. Not only is this in keeping with the Government agenda to speed up the conveyancing process but can also facilitate the potential for using data productively much earlier in the home buying and selling process.
It is disappointing therefore that the project is moving forward so slowly with the data from only 7 local authorities centralised so far. It is CoPSO’s view that the pace of take-on has to be dramatically increased and, in particular, that resource is focused on optimising the short-term benefits. This can be done by identifying those authorities which currently operate at the slowest speed, at the highest cost, where there are barriers to accessing data, or where there are concerns over the quality of data. Some examples which CoPSO has identified would include Derby City Council, Cheshire East, Lichfield District Council and Camden.
CoPSO has also lobbied for the release of the HMLR Report to MHCLG on the future of the CON29 which surely must have a significant impact on the long-term direction of the centralisation project. There needs to be transparency, openness and cross sector engagement if the opportunity to improve the provision of search information is to be maximised for the long-term benefits of homebuyers.
Kindly shared by Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO)