The UK’s Land Registry is intent on trialling ‘blockchain’ – the technology made famous by electronic currency Bitcoin.
Before we go into what this means and how it’s supposed to work for the rest of us, it’s important to point out that conveyancers still send transfer documents by fax to the Land Registry. And the Land Registry has to transcribe these often hand-written amends to property titles.
The dark ages would not be too mild a summation of where the Land Registry is in terms of technology.
Each month the Land Registry issues corrections to the property prices it publishes for people to use as comparable house prices.
It’s not uncommon for the likes of Robert May to send a monthly email to the Land Registry correcting prices and addresses.
In response, Her Majesty’s Land Registry is searching for new board members and has published a detailed plan to trial ‘Digital Street’ records.
It hints at instant property title transfers that are safe and secure, as well as holding more granular data.
Part of this trial is exploring the use of blockchain.
The most simple way to explain blockchain is to compare it to what happens now: the Land Registry has all the information and you have to go through them to get it or make changes.
Blockchain stores a log of all changes on lots of ‘distributed’ computers. Proponents of this technology say it significantly reduces, if not eradicates, fraud.
Other countries, most notably Sweden, are also trialling the use of blockchain for cataloguing changes in land and property ownership records.
Here’s the job description for new HM Land Registry board members:
The most interesting thing about Land Registry using blockchain is that by definition there would be no more Land Registry.
We’d all have the register on all our computers.
Editor’s update: The Land Registry tells us that it has never processed transfer applications by fax. It says that transfer applications can only be lodged electronically through a dedicated portal or by paper post, and that it stopped all other fax services in 2015. It adds that a small proportion of conveyancers who do not wish to use the portal must send applications by mail, in which case the Land Registry then scans them on to the system,
Let me put forward an immediate and obvious candidate to revolutionise the system. We all know who that is without even having to say his name!
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Russell Quirk? I read somewhere he wants to be a service supplier!
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Although I have a full forensic analysis of land registry data, I think that should only be made fully available to industry professionals and investors, who have data protection obligations imposed upon them.
I have been involved in helping a case where land registry data was being used as a weapon in a vexatious and nasty divorce case; the aggressive, intimidating husband used information handed out by land registry to further torture his ex wife. That one case alone demands the same level of protection for personal affairs as that afforded to each of our bank balances.
We cleanse Land registry data of over 160,000 errors each month and have as an unbiased view of property prices and trends as is possible. That information should only be used by those trained to use it properly and within the guidelines dictated by case law.
The morale and ethical use of the data shouldn’t exclude access to the information but the sensitive and personal aspect of who paid how much for what ought to be given consideration
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@Robert May — I have an idea for you to consider…could be much more useful and cheaper than OTM. Pls write me at sniven@trovimap.com.
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This would be fantastic! Our sales legal system is one of the most outdated in the world! We need to move more like the US model – The market would pick up as well, we all know how much time kills deals so a swifter exchange could mean more sales.
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