Today I asked one of my team to
make a call to the Land Registry to find out how much longer it will be before
our application to register the transfer of part of a plot of land will be processed.
The transaction was completed at
the end of last year and the application for registration lodged in January.
The response was disturbing – on two levels.
First, we were informed that
there is currently a backlog of six months – yes, half a year. Imagine what
goes on (or can’t) in the property market over that period of time, even in
dull times.
This was followed by the
illustrative report that the call-handler is currently dealing with
applications lodged in July 2015.
So, actually that’s 8 months, not
6, and you’re so disillusioned perhaps that you’ve lost track of time…
On any analysis this is lamentable.
I thought our local courts were a scandal, taking as they are 5-6 weeks to draw
an order (even when we have drafted and e-filed it). They are – but this is
just surreal.
One couldn’t contemplate for one
moment of course that this is the product of some filthy trick by a government
committed to selling off the Land Registry that has until recently been so
efficient and would net them a chunk of cash to aid the hopeless task of
balancing the books..
