District councils urge minister to halt centralisation of local land charge registers

The District Councils’ Network has urged the Government to reconsider its proposal to centralise local land charge registers by transferring the functions vested in local authorities to the Land Registry.

In a letter to Matthew Hancock, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, the DCN pointed out that when the Government consulted on the measure (contained in the Infrastructure Bill) earlier this year, there was “an overwhelming majority of stakeholders opposed to the proposals”.

It added  “Very significant concerns were expressed by many responders to the consultation.”

The letter – signed by Cllr Neil Clarke, chairman of the DCN – highlighted the issues with the proposal raised by the Local Land Charges Institute and other stakeholders such as the Council of Property Search Organisations.

“The District Councils Network remains very concerned that centralising local land charges registers entails high risk and is of the view that the proposal should be reconsidered,” it said.

“Of particular concern to us is the impact upon the operation of the property market if there are problems with the IT system being developed to support the centralised local land charges register and the transfer of data from local authorities.”

Cllr Clarke insisted that the network was not seeking the minister’s intervention for reasons of self-interest because local authorities currently maintained local land charges registers.

Instead, he said, “it is because we believe the damage that could be caused to the operation of the housing market and thus to the national economy is so substantial should there be technical problems with an as yet untried and untested IT system that the risk is too great to be acceptable.

“The DCN believes it would be failing in its public duty if it did not draw to your personal attention the consequences that could arise if technical problems occur. If you are not persuaded that the proposals should be set aside then we would urge you to at least delay implementation until you are satisfied that all technical issues have been resolved such that there will be no adverse consequences for the smooth operation of the housing market.”