Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to Answer of 16 April 2025 on Question 43378 on HM Land Registry, what recent progress he has made on reducing backlogs in the Land Registry application system.

Improving speed of service remains a top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). All the services that people need from HMLR before they move property are either instantaneous or within its usual 3-day standard.

Once they have moved, the purchase needs to be registered with HMLR. Around a third of all registrations are automated and near instantaneous. Most take around 12 weeks.

The age of the oldest outstanding registrations has now more than halved from a peak in 2023 to under 11 months today.

HMLR processing times are publicly available on gov.uk here. If a delay to an application may cause financial, legal, or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, it can be fast tracked (expedited) free of charge. HMLR processes over 1,500 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% of these processed within 10 working days.