Land Registry: (A) proposed changes to the commercial model; and (B) Infrastructure Bill

This note covers two topics concerning the Land Registry. The first part of this note (section A) considers the Government’s proposal to change the status of the Land Registry from a Trading Fund, and to split the delivery and policy functions of the Land Registry with the delivery functions undertaken by a service delivery company, and policy work the responsibility of a new Office of the Chief Land Registrar (“OCLR”) to be retained in Government.

This proposal was set out in the January 2014 consultation, Consultation Document – Introduction of a Land Registry service delivery company, published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The consultation closed on 20 March 2014. In response to the comments received during the consultation, in a July 2014 written ministerial statement the Government stated that it had “concluded that further consideration would be valuable”, adding that “therefore, at this time, no decision has been taken to change Land Registry’s model”.

The second part of this note (section B) considers the Infrastructure Bill [HL] which is currently before the House of Commons, including developments at Second Reading and Committee Stage. More detailed background on the Bill can be found in the Library Research Paper on the Bill (RP 14/65), which was published ahead of its Second Reading in the Commons.

It should be noted that the Land Registry only operates in England and Wales.

This note was previously published under the title Possible changes to HM Land Registry’s commercial model.