HM Land Registry has confirmed it is working with a handful of software suppliers to support the migration of local land charges (LLC) data onto its central registry.
A spokesperson said it has arrangements with four companies that provide systems for LLCs – DEF Software, Idox, Northgate and Agile Applications – to migrate the data in England and Wales to the LLC Register, with the aim of completing the move by 2025.
DEF Software said it agreed its partnership with the agency in December 2020 and is now working with 13 local authorities to update their land charge modules.
This involves developing the interface of its system to facilitate a smoother migration of the data to the central register developed by Kainos.
DEF said it is close to approaching the first migration of one of its local authority customers with Welwyn and Hatfield Council.
Active support
Allison Bradbury, head of implementation at Land Registry said: “We are really pleased to have DEF Software on board and actively supporting the transfer of local land charges data to the national register.”
Graeme Cooke, commercial director at DEF, said the move “will have a huge impact for our customers, who will no longer have to process land charges certificates.
“It will also have a profound effect on house buyers, speeding up the often long and stressful experience of purchasing property. This is one step towards supporting the reopening and growth of the housing market since the pandemic.”
The move is part of the effort by Land Registry to speed up the migration of data currently held on council systems to the LLC Register.
Migration target
By April of this year it had taken on just 12 councils since the launch in summer 2019. It announced plans for the short term migration of another five and set a target of 60 over 2021-22.
In July of last year it developed support packages and made changes to its data analysis dashboard and pre-migration service assessments to boost the progress.
Earlier this week HM Treasury said it was providing £26 million to support the migration through transition payments for local authorities that transfer the data within an agreed timescale.
Land Registry has also recently set up a Migration Hub to support councils in migrating the data. It includes information on what to do in each step, instructions on how to deal with typical issues and templates to plan, track and measure progress.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
