WIREDGOV

As of yesterday (3 December 2012), thousands of property professionals will be able to make quicker and more cost effective applications to update details held on property registers with a new Land Registry service.

The new electronic Document Registration Service (e-DRS) is now available through Land Registry’s popular ‘portal’ transactional channel. It allows users such as conveyancers to send and receive the majority of their applications to change the register electronically – rather than through the post.

Speaking at the launch yesterday, Malcolm Dawson, Chief Executive, Land Registry said:

“Our customers lodge thousands of applications to update property registers with us everyday. With e-DRS we aim to make this a quick and easy process. We worked closely with our customers at every stage of development to ensure the new service reduces customer costs without the need for major changes to their processes or to their relationships with their clients. Over the next few years we want to build on this development and reach a position where every application can be lodged online.”

Angela Jackson, Land Registry’s product manager for e-DRS added:

“Being able to lodge the majority of applications to change a property register electronically carries a number of benefits for our customers and for Land Registry. Online delivery will reduce the average end-to-end processing time of an application and remove its postal costs.

“Electronic applications support customers’ efforts to cut back on paper consumption and can reduce manual processing. Importantly, receiving and responding to applications electronically automatically creates an audit trail that helps efforts to prevent and detect property fraud.”

Jonathan Sharp, Partnerat Hartley & Worstenholme Solicitors, has been using the prototype service for four months.

“We have found e-DRS very easy to use through the portal. Having documents returned electronically enables us to get back to clients as quickly as possible. We’ve experienced an environmental benefit and a cost saving because we no longer need to photocopy applications onto paper, we simply scan the documents onto the system and upload them to Land Registry with the application. Having the certainty that Land Registry has received our application is excellent.”

There are no additional fees for using e-DRS. The fees payable for submitting applications via e-DRS are based on the current Land Registration Fee Order. The service has been available via Land Registry’s integrated business-to-business channel, Business Gateway since September 2012.

Visit www.landregistry.gov.uk/e-drs to:

• watch videos, demonstrations and view interactive training
• find information and guidance about signing up to and using e-DRS
• view a full list of applications you can send and receive.

Notes to Editors

1. Land Registry portal is a secure website platform used to access Business e-services. Customers accessing business e-services through the portal enjoy a quicker and more cost effective service than when using the traditional paper-based route. Find out more at http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/business-e-services/the-portal
2. This year marks the 150^th anniversary of Land Registry. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been an open document since 1990.
3. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing over 23 million titles, Land Registry underpins the economy and generates revenue by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.
4. For further information about Land Registry visit www.landregistry.gov.uk

Contact

Marion Shelley 0300 0067543, 07790 690297

marion.shelley@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk