A vital new partnership for RICS will be driving the move to a new and complete Land Register in 2012, says James Kavanagh.

RICS and Land Registry have jointly committed themselves to creating a more comprehensive Land Register for England and Wales by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

This officially seals the relationship between the two organisations, allowing them to work together to provide a better service to the property industry and the public.

It also outlines their shared objectives in creating a thorough register of land.

They will continue to focus their efforts on promoting the benefits of comprehensive registration to owners and managers of property, enabling the acceleration of the programme.

Peter Collis, Chief Executive of Land Registry and Chief Land Registrar, and Steve Williams, past President of RICS, signed the formal document at Land Registry’s Head Office in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in June.

Peter Collis said that RICS would have a key role to play in the partnership: “Chartered surveyors provide essential business and property advice to their clients, and they are central and critical drivers behind the push for land registration.

RICS fully supports the Land Registry in its initiative to achieve a comprehensive Land Register of England and Wales by 2012 and believes it to be in the best interest of the public, property owners and, from a world view, the nation’s economy.”

The aim of the new Land Register is to provide a simpler, safer and more economic system of transferring and mortgaging land.

It will offer a range of substantial advantages, including:

• a guaranteed registered title;
• a public record of ownership, rights, covenants and mortgages;
• simple forms instead of complicated documents;
• a swift resolution of disputes;
• more confident dealings with land;
• simpler and quicker examinations of title.

Perfect partners
The MoU cements what has become a vital relationship in the UK’s property and land sector. The two organisations have previously worked together on a number of high-profile projects.

These include:

• E-conveyancing (for this revolution in property transaction, RICS has been involved in the support of xml format schema providers such as PISCES)
• Home Information Packs (HIPs)
• TechRICS training scheme
• Boundaries and title plans – RICS and Land Registry meet regularly to discuss issues of mutual concern, such as title plan digital provision, determined boundaries, as built title plans, and positional accuracy improvement (PAI).
  

Land Registry is also involved in the annual Michael Barrett award lecture for land registration held at RICS, Great George Street, every October.

Last year’s winner was Land Registry’s regional registrar Andrew Pain from the south west of England.

In pushing forward the effort to produce a new Land Register, RICS and Land Registry have already held a programme of joint regional events at Land Registry local offices around the UK.

More events are planned, focusing on Land Registration and current Land Registry working methods and technologies.

They are open to all members of RICS and are advertised through the RICS’ UK regional structures.

Land Registry also produces a number of practice advice leaflets and other publications aimed at professionals and consumers.

The current Land Registry online services are also well worth reviewing by all RICS members engaged in surveying work. Land Registry web resources can be found at www.landregistry.co.uk

James Kavanagh is Director of the Land Group at RICS.

This article appeared in RICS Business, September 2006.