A £26 million fund has been set up by HM Treasury to speed up house sales in England and Wales, it has been revealed by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay (pictured).
The fund will be spent on incentivising councils to migrate and digitise their Local Land Charges (LLC) register data to a central national database.
After a slow start after its launch in August 2018, the number of council transferring their data to this register has begun to gather pace in recent months, the latest to join being Sevenoaks District Council.
But with just 18 signed up, the extra cash is in recognition of the hundreds of councils which need to complete their LLC migration.
HMRC says this will make the target of finishing the project by 2025 ‘more achievable’.
House sales
“Local authorities which transfer their local land charges data to our Local Land Charges (LLC) Register within an agreed timescale will receive transition payments,” says Karina Singh, HM Land Registry Director of Transformation.
“We understand the uncertain economic landscape facing many local authorities and the resourcing issues this creates.
“In the UK, property remains one of the single largest investments many people make. We want to help buyers get the information they need, in a faster and simpler manner.”
The Land Registry says its figures suggest that 6% of property transactions fail, costing between £700 and £2,700 per transaction.
“By enabling earlier access to LLC information these costs should reduce, making the conveyancing process better for all parties,” says Singh.
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