Land Registry to close quarter of offices and axe 1500

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by Kay Murchie

According to The Times, the Land Registry is today set to announce plans to close 25% of its national offices, which will result in 1,500 job losses.

The Registry, which has 20 offices across the country, covers England and Wales and records and guarantees the ownership of domestic and commercial property.

The organisation enables anyone to find out who owns land, whether there is a mortgage or legal restriction on it, and how much was paid when it was last sold.

Executives at the Registry are expected to inform staff that the housing market downturn is to blame for the cuts. Back in August, the Land Registry said the property market slump has resulted in its “workload and income having fallen off a cliff”.

According to the organisation, 627 houses a day were registered in England and Wales in January - compared with 2,526 a day during the same month last year.

Furthermore, the total number of all applications handled by the group during the year to 31 March slumped to 26.7 million, compared with 36.3 million the previous year.

As a result, the Land Registry’s income from registration fees collapsed from £482,944 in 2007/2008 to £308,050 in 2008/2009.

In its annual report to March 31, the Registry proposed to merge offices in Birkenhead, Durham, Lytham, Nottingham and Swansea and to close offices in York and Harrow in 2010.