WIREDGOV

Land Registry currently has two offices in Wales: the Swansea Office, which operates from a site in Swansea High Street, and the Wales Office, which operates from Phoenix Way, Llansamlet. As part of the programme to reduce office space, which was announced in 2006, the Swansea Office will close on 11 January 2010 and the administrative areas previously dealt with by that office will be transferred to the Wales Office.


This change is effected by the Land Registration (Proper Office) Order 2009, which was laid today, 13 October, and comes into force on 11 January 2010.

All paper applications which will be received on or after 11 January 2010 and which relate to land in the London boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon or Hounslow should be sent, or personally delivered, to the Wales Office, unless a written agreement is in place between the registrar and the applicant or applicant’s conveyancer allowing for delivery elsewhere.

The Customer Information Centre at the Swansea Office closed on 31 August 2009. Personal callers can attend the Customer Information Centre at the Wales Office.


Notes to Editors


1. Practice Guide 51 – Areas served by Land Registry offices can be viewed or downloaded from www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/lrpg051.pdf Full details of the changes can be obtained from www.landregistry.gov.uk 

2. Swansea and Wales offices currently employ 540 members of staff and are responsible for the land registration of Wales and parts of London.

3. Following a full review of all its offices, Land Registry announced in May 2006 a planned reduction in the number of local offices it operates. The reduction is taking place over a period of years and includes the closure of the Harrow and York offices in 2010. In Birkenhead, Durham, Lytham St Annes, and Nottingham, Land Registry had two offices and these have merged. Land Registry also has two offices in Swansea, and these will effectively be merging as a result of this Order.

4. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing over 22 million titles, Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.

5. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been an open document since 1990.

6. For further information about Land Registry visit www.landregistry.gov.uk 




Contacts:


NDS Enquiries


Phone: For enquiries please contact the above department

Email: ndsenquiries@coi.gsi.gov.uk 


Marion Shelley

Land Registry
Phone: 020 7166 4543

Email: marion.shelley@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk 


Esther McWatters

Land Registry
Phone: 020 7166 4487

Email: esther.mcwatters@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk