Five more local authorities, including the first in Wales, have joined the Local Land Charges (LLC) register, bringing the total number of members to 39.
The LLC said this is a product of acceleration in local authority data transformation.
The City and County of Swansea Council has become the first of Wales’ 22 local authorities to join the register, with the LLC hoping that it paves the way for the remaining Welsh councils to join.
By working with the LLC programme, Swansea Council will realise the benefits of the service and is leading the way for Wales in ensuring digitally accessible data, the LLC said.
Councils who join the LLC make local land charges information instantly accessible, speeding up the conveyancing process and making homebuying easier and less stressful for the residents of the area.
The other local authority areas to join the register and therefore now have instant online access to LLC data are:
- Harborough District Council
- Isle of Wight Council
- Portsmouth City Council
- Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
They join City of Lincoln Council, who recently joined the service.
Commenting, HM Land Registry’s Director of Transformation, Karina Singh said:
“We are delighted that Swansea’s Local Land Charges service is the first Welsh local authority to join the central digital register. The Swansea and HM Land Registry teams have worked closely together to cleanse and transform the data at speed.
“Homebuyers and their conveyancers will now benefit from instant access data, provided in the digital, standard format. This also lays the ground for Ministers’ wider ambitions for quicker planning decisions as part of the levelling up agenda.”
Programme Director for HM Land Registry’s Local Land Charges Programme, Mark Kelso added:
“This has been a momentous week for the LLC programme. Five local authorities have joined the national service, including our first Welsh local authority.
“This is a significant achievement and really shows how the programme is gathering pace and the strength of the collaboration between the programme and local authorities across England and Wales.”
“HM Land Registry’s award-winning digital LLC register is making the conveyancing process quicker and simpler for everyone. I’m incredibly pleased that property buyers in Solihull, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Swansea and Harborough local authority areas will now have instant, easy access to LLC data.”
HM Land Registry is working in partnership with local authorities to migrate their local land charges data to a central, digital register as part of a phased approach.
Once migrated, anyone will be able to get instant online search results using the Search for Local Land Charges service.
Business customers can use their existing portal and Business Gateway channels or their usual search providers to access local land charges data for those local authorities which have migrated.
Customers will need to continue to submit CON29 enquiries to the local authority.
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