§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of land acreage in(a) England and (b) Wales which is not currently officially registered.
Mr. John M. TaylorThe hon. Member's question concerns a specific matter on which the chief executive of her Majesty's Land Registry is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.
Letter from John Manthorpe to Mr. Dafydd Wigley, dated 30 March 1993.
As Chief Executive, it is my responsibility to answer questions on operational matters concerning HM Land Registry. The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has consequently asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question to him concerning the percentage of land acreage in (a) England and (b) Wales which is not currently officially registered.>I regret that statistics relating to registered land acreage are not maintained by the Registry. However, out of an estimated 19.7 million titles in England, 13.6 million are registered and out of an estimated 1.3 million titles in Wales 0.6 million are registered. The majority of registered titles relate to residential properties in urban areas.I hope you will find this reply helpful. A copy will appear in the Official Report and a copy will be placed in the House library.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make it his policy to bring forward legislation to secure that compulsory registration of all land is undertaken in England and Wales.
Mr. John M. TaylorUnder the existing provisions of the Land Registration Acts, land is compulsorily registered on sale throughout England and Wales. Over 14 million titles are now registered at Her Majesty's Land Registry and this will increase progressively as transactions occur.
In the citizens charter White Paper in November 1992 the Government announced their intention to explore
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Court building Scheme Service Company Docklands Feasibility and design Estate surveying Quantity surveying Kyle Stewart Knight Frank and Rutley C. F. Baker & Partners Cardiff Project management W. S. Atkins Crawley Feasibility and design PSA Projects Staines Feasibility and design Kyle Stewart Neath Project management Design Civil engineering W. S. Atkins Powell Dobson Travers Morgan ideas for completing the land register. Her Majesty's Land Registry has now issued a consultation document, "Completing the Land Register in England and Wales", which seeks views on whether the Land Registration Acts should be amended to speed up eventual completion of the register.