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Land Registry proposes increase in fees
Land Registry, the government department responsible for registering land in England and Wales, is proposing to increase its fees. The increases are due to come into effect on 6 July.
The fee increase is intended to reduce the current operating loss caused by the reduction in the number of transactions in the property market. Land Registry is dependent on fee income to cover its costs and has been seriously affected by the fall in property and mortgage transactions over the past year.
The increases mean that the fee for registering a property worth £100,000 would increase from £100 to £130. For a property worth £1million, the fee would go up from £420 to £550. There will also be increases in fees for providing information, including official searches and official copies, with for example, the fee for a postal official search increasing from £6 to £8.
Finance Director Heather Foster said:
"A range of
measures has already been taken to cut costs including a voluntary
redundancy scheme and an accelerated plan to merge offices.
"Whilst these measures have helped to keep increases as small as possible, an increase is unavoidable and will mean - for an average priced property of £153,000, the increase is £50.
"We do not believe this will be a deterrent to market recovery, especially in the context of interest rates at historically low levels and lower house prices.
"Fee increases are rare. Since 1993, eight of the nine Fee Orders (amending the level of fees) introduced by Land Registry have reduced fees. We will, of course, keep the new fees closely under review."
Notes to editors
1. The proposed increases have been approved in principle by HM Treasury and the draft fee order was laid in Parliament on Thursday 2 April.
2. For a full schedule of the fee increases visit http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/fees/newfeeorder/
3. Land Registry's latest projected fee income for 2008/9 is £299.2million compared with £482.9million for 2007/8.
4. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been an open document since 1990.
5. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing over 22 million titles, Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property. Just over two thirds of land in England and Wales is currently registered.
6. For further information about Land Registry visit http://www.landregistry.gov.uk
Land Registry
Head Office
Lincoln's Inn
Fields
London WC2A 3PH
Tel (direct) 020 7166 4543
Fax
020 7166 4516
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