Information services fees will increase by £4, the first increase in more than 10 years.
From 9 December 2024 Land Registry fees for obtaining official copies of title registers, plans and copies of documents referred to on title registers will increase from £3 to £7 each.
Similarly, the fee for undertaking a priority or non-priority search will increase from £3 to £7 per title.
The impact of these fee increases will be felt particularly by those engaging in portfolio transactions where the disbursement costs just for obtaining title information will more than double overnight.
Other commonly used searches which will also see a fee increase are:
- SIM search fees which will increase by £4 from £4 to £8 for up to five titles and thereafter £6 for every 10 titles or up to 10 titles thereafter (previously £2).
- Official searches of the Land Charges register (bankruptcy searches) which will increase from £2 to £6 per name.
There is no escaping these increases, although if you know that you will need particular documents in the near future, it might be worthwhile putting in your order now.
The Land Registry’s justification is that the increased fees will help to meet their costs of running and improving services, as well as plans to increase digitalisation and transformation of data. Hopefully we will see these improvements filter through soon.
Currently there is no change to registration fees, but these are also under review.