Save The Land Registry

In that noted revolutionary Marxist organ, the Sunday Express, Neil Clark writes:

The Land Registry was established in 1862 and has been serving us quietly and efficiently for more than 150 years.

Now though, a dark cloud hangs over the body that registers land ownership and maintains the documentation of almost 24 million titles.

Just before Easter, Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced plans to privatise the Land Registry. 

“The preferred model is a contract between government and a private operator, with all the core functions transferred out of the public sector,” said the statement. 

Now, Save The Land Registry! might not be the catchiest campaigning slogan but it’s one we all ought to be chanting.

For if ever there was a case of a privatisation too far, this is it. None of the old arguments in favour of state sell-offs made by the Thatcherites in the 1980s apply. 

The Land Registry is no loss-making drain on the public purse. Last year it paid the ­Exchequer more than £100million in dividends and has made a profit for the taxpayer in 19 of the past 20 years. 

It has done this while reducing its fees to the public. By selling the Land Registry the Government would get a one-off payment but the taxpayer would lose out in the medium-to-long term.

Is this what Chancellor George Osborne really wants? 

Another argument made for privatisation is to increase competition.

But there can only be one body that registers the ownership of land and for obvious reasons it is better that this is a publicly owned body rather than one which could be subject to commercial pressures. 

Former Chief Land Registrar John Manthorpe has warned of the dangers of privatisation: 

“Confidence in land and property as the ultimate source of wealth and welfare in society depends on a land registration system administered with integrity, commercial neutrality and free from any conflict of interest. This is not an activity that can be done by a private company.”

If it were privatised the Land Registry would not be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and it would be easier to conceal who owns land.

The Government claims privatising it would allow it to become “even more efficient and effective” but it is hard to see how the Land Registry could improve.

Every time I’ve had to contact it the staff have been very helpful and polite, and this is the experience of others I have talked to.

The figures back this up: the Registry boasts a 98 per cent customer satisfaction rate. There’s certainly no public clamour for the Government to sell. 

Two years ago, when it put forward the idea, the public was asked whether they thought a “more delivery focused organisation at arm’s length from government” would do a better job for customers. Ninety-one per cent answered No.

The Government abandoned its proposals in 2014 but is now trying again. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that they are privatising just for the sake of it.

It’s one thing to privatise state-owned industries, it’s quite another to transfer to the private sector monopoly registration bodies which have been in public ownership since the days of Queen Victoria.

This is a privatisation that I’m sure even Mrs Thatcher would oppose. Thankfully, there remains a chance that it can still be stopped. 

A petition on the 38 Degrees website calling for the privatisation to be ditched already has 160,000 signatories.

The petition’s author, solicitor James Ferguson, says: “If private companies get their hands on the Land Registry they’ll have one thing on their minds. Profits. This could mean a price hike for all of us, or a fall in standards due to cost-cutting.”

We have until May 26 to respond to the Government’s consultation on its proposals. You can send your views to lr.consultation@ukgi.gov.uk or write to Lizzie Dixon, 1 Victoria Street, London, W1H 0ET.

One thing in campaigners’ favour is that the Government only has a small majority.

Early last month, plans to liberalise Sunday trading laws were defeated after 26 Tory MPs sided with the Opposition.

If we could keep Sunday special, we can save the Land Registry too.

The message we need to send to Sajid Javid and his colleagues is a simple one that surely ought to be the motto of any government which calls itself Conservative.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Neil Clark is the director of the Campaign for Public Ownership