14 May 2014
Michael Kavanagh, PCS Land Registry Group President, explains why the Land Registry is worth fighting for.
Today and tomorrow (14th and 15th May), PCS members are striking to defend the vital public service they provide in the Land Registry service. The Land Registry Board are considering yet to be published plans to decimate the office network and shed thousands of jobs. PCS believe this is part of a detailed plan (as exposed in the Guardian) to cheapen land registration, in order to privatise the organisation. None of this is necessary.
The Land Registry delivers 97% customer satisfaction and makes no call whatsoever on the public purse. Indeed we return a healthy dividend back to HM Treasury every year. As a government trading fund, it is self-funding, doesn’t cost taxpayers a penny and has returned money to the Treasury in 19 of the last 20 years - £98 million in 2013, while continuing to reduce its fees.
Since 1862 the Land Registry has recorded the ownership of land and property in England and Wales and produces data on house prices and transactions that are used by the government to make policy decisions. The privatisation proposals are a real threat to the government guarantee of title, will drive up the cost of house buying, force small, local high-street solicitors out of business and threaten the stability of the housing market.
The Land Registry underpins the guarantee of title of £3 trillion of property, and its registers are part of the critical national infrastructure. Impartial civil servants are dedicated to ensuring that every entry on to the register is correct. They act independently of every vested interest, and seek to ensure that errors are detected and corrected, and that fraudsters are thwarted.
We have received widespread support, particularly from our legal profession customers, who do not want to see radical changes to the registration process. They rightly fear that this will lead to a worse service, problems with security and fraud and also potential price hikes for the public, if the service is run for private profit, as opposed to a public service.
PCS also believes that Land Registry could play a vital state role in tackling the housing crisis, doing things like creating a central register of landlords and ultimately regulating on the planning of land use in the future. Also, completion of the land register will assist in highlighting the gross inequality of land ownership in England and Wales.
Our members value the public service they provide and are prepared to fight for it. Land Registry cannot be another public asset that is needlessly transferred to private pockets.
Photo used under Creative Commons licensing, thanks to Natesh Ramasamy.
Comments
Penny Morley replied on Permalink
Land Registry is an important public service and should remain in public hands.
R. J. Montague replied on Permalink
You can't have vested interests in Land registry by privatizing it and keep the costs to a minimum; this has been a glaring reality when you look at what's happened to all the privatization of our utilities, Telephones, Transport, Refuse collection and the list goes on and on. There will always be a conflict of interests when it comes done to it, profit or the vested interests of privatization. You can't do away with greed until humanity evolves to a higher state of understanding. This is a direct attack on our freedom and our ownership of our resources. The politicians are giving other countries control of Britain which is nothing less than TREASON. We need as a matter of urgency to regain our own self reliance as we had before Thatcher started to give away our Brutishness to foreign control. I never thought i'd see the day that our politicians were so spineless and treacherous to the welfare of the British people. Then, what can you expect when you give away your power to a bunch of megalomaniacs
who only have their own vested interests just the same as what we are mentioning about privatization.
Many thanks for this opportunity.
R. John of the Montague family. 16th May 2014
Lynda Peacock replied on Permalink
This a valuable public asset that works and returns a profit there is no reason whatsoever to sell it off and for people to loose their jobs. Just see yet another public service and to fall into the ownership of the private sector. How many services has this country sold off to line the pockets of the rich at the expence of the public enough is enough! The services that have already been sold have not helped the public one bit British Rail and the Post Office to name just too.Costs raise and customer service vanishes. Governments are not elected to privatise services which do not take care if those assets they run them into the ground to sweeze out profit. Leave Land Registry alone it is a good service run well! !
rodney replied on Permalink
As land prices, especially in the South have now risen to such unaffordable levels, and priced-out a whole generation, how can the land registry escape its own culpability?
phil hartley replied on Permalink
Yet another example of the governments obsession with privatisation (gone mad). It has to be stopped as they are selling off profitable organisations that DO contribute to the public purse. The people of the UK own the LR and they should be asked if it should be sold. When will they learn that the public have had enough of this asset stripping.
Mrs Anne Lloyd replied on Permalink
This privatisation is entirely unnecessary. The Land Registry should remain in public ownership.
Phil Green replied on Permalink
Privatisation = profits = a downgraded service. See any one of the privatised rail companies whose pay-outs to shareholders equalled the subsidies from the tax payer, the power companies whose privatisation was going to be to our benefit with lower charges, the water supply companies that produce large profits for their shareholders. All of this was owned by us and it only had to make enough money to cover its costs. No profit.
David Holmes replied on Permalink
Omce again the goverment sells of the family silver. I am hard presssed to think of one privatisation that has gone on to deliver a good service to the public.
More often than not all it does is provide awindfall profits to private equity. When willthis abuse of power sto.