Digital Identity Standard will ‘revolutionise’ the residential property sector in the West Midlands and possibly beyond, according to Kate Bould, the managing director of bespoke property search firm Index West Midlands.

Stratford upon Avon District Council has completed its migration to the HM Land Registry’s (HMLR) local land charges (LLC) online register, marking a major step forward for the residential property sector’s digital-first strategy for professional advisers, conveyancers and solicitors in the region.

Bould believes that the latest in the rollout of the HM Land Registry’s Digital Identity Standard will ‘revolutionise’ the work and time-efficiencies of land searches for the region’s property sector.

“This is significant for the sector’s digital strategy in the region,” said Bould, who has worked closely with HM Land Registry and Stratford District Council to support the move from the paper-based to fully online system.

She added: “The HM Land Registry Digital Identity Standard eliminates local variations in price, speed and format to create a standardised and streamlined service.

“It delivers instant online search results with 24/7 access to the data that will reduce delays to conveyancers and solicitors receiving searches. This is a huge boost for property advisers and professionals, and allows homebuyers to use their mobile phone to prove their identity.”

Under the programme that originally launched in 2018, HM Land Registry is centralising all local land charges registers held by local authorities across England and Wales, into one single digital register.

The migration for Stratford upon Avon district council completed last week, and is the first in HM Land Registry’s second phase of the rollout programme that is scheduled for this year, and the second local authority in the West Midlands region to complete the switch since HMLR launched the programme – Warwick District Council was one of the first local authorities to migrate to register.

Bould continued: “The programme’s next phase of rollout is a significant milestone for not only Stratford upon Avon, but the region too.

“The West Midlands is at the heart of the digital system’s migration for the remaining forty local authorities in England and Wales, with the local authorities covering Worcestershire, Dudley, West Bromwich, Redditch and Bromsgrove next in line to join the online system by the end of this financial year.

“The Index West Midlands team works closely with all of these local authorities, and in the same way as we have supported Stratford upon Avon to move to the HMLR register, is now poised to support their scheduled switch to the digital-first system.”

She added: “Stratford-on-Avon District Council’s investment in its migration to the fully digital search system will address overnight the many historic issues associated with residential house purchasers in the area, such as variations in price, speed and format, and create a standardised and streamlined service.

“This is a defining moment for the West Midlands’ property sector professional communities of conveyancers, mortgage advisers, commercial and residential property lawyers, real estate and agriculture lawyers.”