The additional work, cost and pressure to which a minority of lenders (although it appears to be a growing minority) put conveyancers is simply unacceptable. There are many aspects to this and addressing them all at once would be quite some task.


However, there is one simple change that could be made now, which would lighten the burden for conveyancers everywhere.



Given the risks faced by solicitors in failing to register applications in due time, it is crucial that all aspects of the application be handled efficiently. However, there are increasing numbers of lenders which seem incapable of electronically discharging or providing form DS1 for many months after redemption. Is this perhaps because all the pressure is on the legal profession and none on the lender?



A simple change to the Land Registration Rules would deal with this. A certificate from the redeeming solicitor that the charge has been redeemed in full should be all that is required of the solicitor to remove the charge.



On receipt of the application, the Land Registry would notify the lender that such a certificate has been provided and if the lender does not dispute it within 28 days, then they are stuck with it and the charge removed. This will not affect those lenders that already deal with these matters efficiently, but it will force the inefficient lenders (and we all know who they are) to improve their systems or suffer the consequences.



The vendor's solicitor on completion would then merely need to provide an undertaking to redeem and certify when it has done so.



And while we are on the point, what about the inefficient management companies (again only a minority) which either do not know how to or cannot be bothered to issue certificates of compliance without at least receiving a rain forest-worth of correspondence from the conveyancer?



Why cannot the same process be followed for restrictions on the register?



Mark Williams, The Law Store, Cardiff