HM Land Registry reports faster services as digital reforms advance in UK property market

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HM Land Registry digital progress

Highlights

HM Land Registry's Annual Report 2025-2026 shows it halves the age of its oldest post-completion applications and significantly reduces overall backlogs compared to 2023.
New digital validation tools and Qualified Electronic Signatures reduce avoidable requisitions, with more than 100,000 fewer requisition letters and Nationwide Building Society making the first QES mortgage application.
Local Land Charges Register delivers over two million search results by March 2026, saves customers 13 days per search, and cuts costs by more than £4 million.

Annual report outlines service gains

As reported by GOV.UK, HM Land Registry says its Annual Report and Accounts 2025-2026 shows marked progress in cutting delays, improving application handling and supporting broader property market reform.

During 2025-26, the agency says it reduces the age of its oldest outstanding post-completion applications to less than half the level seen in 2023. The total volume of outstanding applications also falls significantly, with no adverse effect on accuracy or system integrity.

Support for professional users also contributes to faster processing. Through free training, live support and the sharing of firm-level avoidable requisition data, HM Land Registry says just under one third of professional customers reduce their avoidable requisition rates, while more than 100,000 fewer requisition letters are issued over the year.

Iain Banfield, interim chief executive and chief land registrar, says the organisation improves performance, reduces delays, adopts new digital technologies and works with sector partners to turn long-standing reform goals into practical delivery.

Digital tools and market impact widen

HM Land Registry says upgrades to its online portal give customers better visibility over applications, while new digital checks help identify issues before submission. The agency says these validation tools improve application quality, reduce avoidable requisitions and limit unnecessary rework across the property system.

A further milestone comes with the adoption of Qualified Electronic Signatures. Nationwide Building Society becomes the first lender to submit a mortgage application using QES, which HM Land Registry says shows fully digital and secure property transactions are becoming practical in the market.

The annual report also highlights progress in the Local Land Charges Register. By March 2026, the service delivers more than two million search results, saves customers an average of 13 days in obtaining a result and cuts costs by more than £4 million; an AI tool also helps four people process Newham Council's local land charges data in four weeks, compared with an estimated three months and 20 people without it.

Beyond its own services, HM Land Registry says it continues working with industry and government through the Digital Property Market Steering Group to improve access to trusted property information, support digital identity verification, explore smart property data and test secure information-sharing methods. The organisation also says it helps prevent fraudulent property applications worth more than £63 million during the year, while its free Property Alert service grows to more than 900,000 live accounts.

Our earlier article on Rightmove’s pricing power examined concerns that the portal’s dominant position in UK property listings enables unusually high margins and rising fees charged to estate agents. It also looked at whether those costs are ultimately passed on to home sellers through commissions, highlighting growing agent pushback and legal claims alleging abuse of market dominance.

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