I read with interest Nick Smith's letter and agree with him (see [2005] Gazette, 9 June, 17).

Since 1925, the Land Registry has been operating both a registered and unregistered system. Prior to the coming into force of the Land Registration Act 2002, the Law Commission stated: 'The fundamental objective of the Act is that, under the system of electronic dealing with land that it seeks to create, the register should be a complete and accurate reflection of the state of the title of the land at any given time, so that it is possible to investigate title to land on line, within the absolute minimum of additional enquiries and inspections.' Unfortunately, Land Registry practice is to turn around applications as quickly as possible. There is a total failure to bring the registers up to date and for the most part make reference to 'unregistered' conveyances or 'transfers' in other titles, hence the necessity to make further investigation, additional enquiries and inspections, completely contrary to the fundamental objectives.


Upon request for registered titles to be properly brought up to date and all material information contained within the registers, my experience is that there is a refusal by Land Registry staff to carry out this fundamental and necessary work. From my experience, the majority of titles, in my area at least, are defective in this respect.


Peter Sargent, Grimsby