Consultation: Closure of telephone ordering service and changes to Land Charges rules

This consultation closed on 27 July 2012. The results will be announced here soon.

Overview

Between 4 May and 27 July 2012 we are holding a consultation to seek views on our proposals to make changes to Land Charges legislation that will allow us to close the telephone ordering service for business customers (Telephone Services). Our proposed changes will enable us to adopt the use of new technology to deliver various Land Registry and Land Charges products and services more easily. The demand for Telephone Services has fallen by 95 per cent due to the increasing number of customers using our online products and services. If we implement the changes set out in the consultation, it will enable us to improve and modernise our processes and become more flexible and responsive to customers' needs.

We invite customers and stakeholders to provide their views and comments on the proposals set out in our consultation document using our consultation questionnaire - available below.

Consultation document
Consultation questions and answers
Consultation questionnaires

Post-consultation

A post-consultation report will be published on our website following a ministerial review.

Background

The consultation aligns with our Customer Strategy which aims to accelerate the development and encourage take-up of online services and deliver products and services through channels that meet our customer’s needs and at a cost that we and our customers can afford.

Land Registry and Land Charges products and services are currently available via Telephone Services and are all available online. These include:

Land Registry:
- official copies of registers and documents
- official searches of the register
Land Charges:
- office copies of entries in the registers
- o searches of the registers.

We are running this consultation as a result of a significant increase in customers taking up our online services and the declining demand for the telephone ordering services. This means that the telephone ordering service will run at a financial loss by the end of 2012.

For more information about this consultation, please see our questions and answers document or contact the consultation team at tscclosure@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk.