Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the causes of backlogs at HM Land Registry, including for applications to change properties from leasehold to freehold; and if she will make an estimate of the average waiting time are for those applications as of July 2022.

HM Land Registry (HMLR) processed over 135,000 information requests and applications, of widely varying complexity, every day in 2021/22 (+14% on 2020/21).

Over 90% of information requests are delivered instantly via digital services, with the remainder within three days. The average waiting time for all other applications was four weeks in June, although more complex applications can take longer.

If a delay might have a negative impact on future transactions, customers can request fast-tracking at no extra cost. HMLR processes around 1000 of these every day, with 95% completed within 10 working days.