Land Registry hit by big slump

The housing market downturn has led to a 75% collapse in the number of residential property registrations being handled by the Land Registry, the group said.

The fall has been blamed on the steep drop in the number of houses changing hands during the housing market slump, while problems in the mortgage market have made it difficult for people to remortgage.

An average of only 627 registrations a day took place during January in England and Wales. This compares poorly with the figures of 2,526 a day recorded in the previous January.

In the year to the end of March, the Land Registry had handled a total number of 26.7 million applications, down from a figure of 36.3 million from the previous year. As a result, the group's fee income fell to £308,050, from the £482,944 recorded in 2007/2008.

"To put it bluntly, our workload and income have fallen off a cliff. It's probably the most difficult period in our long history," said chief land registrar and chief executive Peter Collins. "To cope with this huge blow we are cutting back spending, raising our fees and drawing on our reserves."

He said the group's money saving measures ranged from using second class stamps to closing all of the restaurants in its office.

It has also shed around 1,100 staff this year through voluntary redundancies and voluntary early retirement as part of a previously announced programme of office closures.

But despite these measures, the Land Registry still recorded a loss of £128,725 for the year, compared with a gain of £97,286 during the previous 12 months.

But there were some brighter spots during the year, with the number of registered titles held on the Land Registry data base reaching 22 million, while the first electronic registration of a mortgage on a property was also completed.

The Land Registry also processed more voluntary registrations than compulsory ones for the first time in its history, as it encouraged people whose property or land was not currently registered with it to do so.