Agents tell Land Registry to be more accessible (and cheaper)

Propertymark wants HM Land Registry to provide more accessible and affordable services to its members. 

HMLR launched a consultation last month as part of its review into its services to guarantee that they meet their objective to ensure they provide a digital, efficient, and safe service to the property market and to enhance the potential of the data it retains.  

HM Land Registry is also examining how its fee structure could be an obstacle to access to its services and how its fee structure could be enhanced.  In its consultation response, Propertymark has highlighted that the existing fee and structure did in fact present a barrier to accessing HMLR’s data and services. 

Removing this barrier is vitally important for agents as it enables them to verify property information provided by landlords and homeowners which may not be reliable. 

Furthermore, the information that property agents have to include in property listings has increased. Back in November 2023, The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team introduced guidance for Parts B and C of the Material Information, which clarified the information letting and estate agents had to provide in property listings in order to comply with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. 

Considering this, Propertymark made the case in its consultation response that agents need access to affordable and accessible property data now more than ever.

Instead, Propertymark members called for a subscription model or the ability to buy the use of services in bulk at a lower price that will encourage agents to make more regular use out of HM Land Registry’s data, thereby cutting possible fall throughs.

Finally, the trade body recommends that HM Land Registry explores the possibility of delivering additional services around improving transparency and data sharing across all organisations involved in the home buying and selling process. This will increase the speed and cut the possibility of fall throughs within the home buying and selling process.  

Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, says: “More and more we are finding that estate agents use HM Land Registry data for every transaction. Despite the importance of this data in the home buying and selling process, the current accumulation of fees agents are expected to pay are an obstacle to accessing the services HM Land Registry provides. We are pleased to have the opportunity to highlight the experiences of our member agents and we look forward to continuing to work with the Land Registry to shape these proposals to encourage greater use of their services.”