CoPSO wants Cable to reverse Registry move

The organisation locked in a war of words with the Land Registry over local land charges is calling on Business Secretary Vince Cable to reverse a government decision to centralise the handling of searches.

The Council of Property Search Organisations cried foul last month when the government announced that, as part of the Digital By Default modernisation programme, local land charge registers would be held centrally by the Land Registry.

"Mr Cable could protect the property market and the tax payer by intervening in this senseless project" claims CoPSO chairman James Sherwood-Rogers.

CoPSO disputes that the centralisation is to make digitalisation easier and instead insists it is - in its own words - "just a way to fatten up the Land Registry to maximise the proceeds in the event of a sale."

In the past CoPSO has also hinted at the possibility of legal action, staged jointly by local authorities and itself, although this has so far not materialised.

Sherwood-Rogers now claims "search turnaround times are ballooning in some locations due to the crass handling of this initiative by Land Registry officials."

CoPSO also claims that other, unspecified projects undertaken by the Registry "have failed spectacularly at a cost of £87m to the tax payer."

Land charges, currently held by a number of local authorities and firms as well as by the Land Registry, are searched by conveyancing solicitors on behalf of buyers, and contain information relating to planning applications, listed buildings status, tree preservation orders, and enforcement notices.