The cost of key conveyancing documents at HM Land Registry is going up.

From 9 December, the charges for all HM Land Registry documents will be increasing as part of a funding drive to help digitise the system, in a bid to speed up transactions.

The fee hikes, as a percentage of the previous costs, are substantial in some cases, albeit from a low base.

For example, bankruptcy searches are rising from £2 to £6, a search for a registered title represents an increase from £3 to £7 for the digital version or £11 for paper, while the fee for a copy of a historical title is going up from £3 to £7.

The average conveyancing bill for buying or selling a property may not be so high in percentage terms. However, on average, the increase is likely to add around £20 to each packaged remortgage conveyancing deal (commonly known as a fixed price remortgage deal).

The current fees and charging structure was seen by many to be complex. However it has not been significantly revised since the organisation’s inception in 1862.

An internal review earlier this year looked at how HM Land Registry’s fees and charging structure can be improved by asking respondents to answer questions based on three themes.

+ Modernising and simplifying the fee structure.

+ Ensuring fees are fair and reasonable.

+ Supporting the land and property information agenda and encouraging innovation through better and more open access to data.

The chief executive and chief land registrar, Simon Hayes, said earlier this year: “Our fees and charging structure has become unnecessarily complex. We want to seek views from a wide audience to ensure that the way we charge for our services supports our customers as well as the delivery of our Strategy 2022+.”