Image source: GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
HM Land Registry is aiming to add more councils to the Local Land Charges Register, implement a new digital identity standard and introduce AI driven services for casework over the coming year.
The organisaton’s chair, Neil Sachdev, has outlined plans in correspondence with Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook, comprising a letter sent in early February and a response to the minister last week.
He declared the intention to modernise data and systems to support the property market, saying there is a long term commitment to create a geospatial, fully digital and interoperable Land Register, and to further develop the Local Land Charges (LLC) programme.
Under the programme the local land charges data of 115 local authorities have been migrated to the central digital register since it was launched in 2020. Sachdev said there are plans to add another 36 this year.
This will be accompanied by the implementation of a digital identity standard under the Data (Use and Access) Bill – which is currently going through Parliament – the introduction of AI services for casework, and the running of a number of local authority property data pilots with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
MHCLG has previously announced the plan for a collection of 10-month pilots with local authorities to identify the best approach to digitising their data and opening it up, in line with the Land Registry plan to enhance public access to property data.
Streamlining home buying
“These pilots are a vital opportunity to demonstrate how digitisation can streamline the entire home buying process,” Sachdev said.
He added: “We believe there is a real momentum behind industry-wide adoption of open data standards, digital ID, electronic signatures and greater data accessibility.”
He also referred to the Government’s plan for leasehold and commonhold reform, saying Land Registry will work to ensure it is digital by design from the outset.
