§ Mr. LaxtonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many(a) double registration and (b) other domestic boundary disputes were handled by the Land Registry in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999 and (d) 2000; of these, how many were (i) the subject of court action, (ii) resolved in court and (iii) settled in court on the basis of (A) loser pays winner's costs, (B) each party pays its own costs and (C) other 691W arrangements for bearing costs; how long on average it took to settle such disputes; and what the average legal costs were for both parties combined. [159676]
§ Jane KennedyThe Land Registry does not keep a record of the total number of boundary disputes which arise in cases it handles. It does, however, maintain a record of those cases in which an error in the extent of a registered title leads to the payment of indemnity under the Land Registration Act 1925. The figures for the last four financial years are as follows:
Number of cases 1997–98 231 1998–99 288 1999–2000 359 2000–01 329 To determine how many of these related to (a) double registrations and (b) domestic properties would be possible only at disproportionate cost.