Long delays at the Land Registry are causing serious problems for home movers and conveyancers.

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers and Bold Legal Group have expressed their serious concerns.

The bodies say that delays in registrations are being experienced in different parts of the country, and have persisted for many months.

They say that in spite of continued assurances that the problem is being tackled, there appears to be no improvement at all.

Simon Law, chairman of the SLC, said: “It is extremely disappointing that these problems have not been resolved.

“It cannot be that difficult to forecast future demands at the Land Registry based on the extensive data on activity in the property market that is available in the public domain.”

BLG founder Rob Hailstone said: “My members continue to report delays with registration to the extent that mortgage lenders have written to clients blaming law firms for registration shortcomings.

“This can affect the status of law firms on lenders panels and is simply unacceptable.

“It seems that the Land Registry is understaffed and not focusing sufficiently on its prime purpose, which is to provide a reliable and effective Land Registry service for the general public. In addition, IT issues have recently been reported to me.”

The SLC and the BLG will be meeting with Land Registry officials to discuss the situation and express their strong concerns over the backlogs which they say now seem to be a “hard core feature” of the Land Registry service.