In mid-November I received Landnet 12 - dated September 2005 - from the Land Registry. One of the first sentences I read stated, quite baldly: 'In 2003 we saw the successful launch of e-discharges for lenders.' This sent me (normally an epitome of calm) into a paroxysm of rage.

The submission of an electronic notification discharge (END) message from a mortgage lender to the Land Registry sounds as though it should be the simplest thing in the world. But I would guess that among the transactions I deal with, only one lender in five can actually do this without being chased, usually on more than one occasion.


Does the Land Registry have a record of the number of times it has had to issue requisitions requiring the filing of a form DS1 or submission of an END message? My usual response to such a requisition is that END is a system that the Land Registry cobbled together with the lenders and it should therefore chase the discharge itself. On occasions, this has actually worked.


If a simple exercise like END causes so much trouble, why does the Land Registry seem so confident that the rest of e-conveyancing will run smoothly?


Keith Rylands, Pengelly & Rylands, Tenterden, Kent