HM Land Registry has released its Annual Report and Accounts for 2024–25, showcasing major strides in enhancing service delivery and advancing digital transformation.
The report outlines how the organisation has significantly improved its services to better meet customer needs, all while safeguarding the security and accuracy of property ownership records that support around £9 trillion in property assets across England and Wales.
Simon Hayes, chief executive and chief land registrar, said: “We know how important it is that everyone can rely on HM Land Registry to ensure their property ownership records are secure and accurate. This is fundamental in helping people to buy homes, develop land and secure mortgages.
“Our role in maintaining the guaranteed record of property ownership in England and Wales is of huge economic importance to the country, supporting and enabling more than £1bn of property market activities every day.
“Our investment in digital services and focus on efficiency has allowed us to process registrations faster, although we will continue to reduce the time it takes for us to process certain applications.
“Our focus on improving the speed of registration has yielded tangible results. By March 2025 we had surpassed our target to process 95% of all applications within 12 months of submission. However, we remain committed to further improving the service we provide to our customers and the industry, both by harnessing technology and through the dedication of our people.”
Key highlights:
+ HM Land Registry’s data assets continued to provide transparency, accuracy and reliability in property transactions. As part of critical national infrastructure, they underpin a nearly £9trn property market and enable the UK House Price Index, which is used for fiscal forecasting. Over 3,000 data users now download HM Land Registry’s datasets monthly, with uses ranging from asset management to risk analysis of potential development sites.
+ By March 2025, a total of 110 local authorities had successfully transferred more than 7.2 million local land charges to our digital Local Land Charges Register. The time taken to receive search results in migrated areas has reduced from days or weeks to instant availability online. Having this information earlier in the transaction process helps to speed up homebuying and planning decisions.
+ HM Land Registry was recognised at the 2024 AI awards for its pioneering use of artificial intelligence in document comparison. This automates the complex task of comparing application documents, significantly improving accuracy, reducing processing time and freeing up caseworkers for more complex work.
+ HM Land Registry’s counter fraud group prevented more than £59m worth of fraudulent property applications in 2024-25. They achieved this through a combination of reviewing and updating HM Land Registry’s methods for detecting fraud, working in partnership with other agencies across government and the property sector and encouraging the public to be on their guard and sign up for their free Property Alert service.
The full Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25 is available here.
