Guidance

Digital services roadmap

Updated 5 April 2024

Applies to England and Wales

What we’re working on

Find out about the work we are doing to improve the service we provide via the HM Land Registry portal and Business Gateway platform.

We list recent changes customers can use, projects we are actively working on and ideas we are exploring for the future.

HM Land Registry portal

We recently:

• made it easier to view and respond to requisitions easily, without the need to wait for email notifications - newly introduced filters in the View Applications service allow quicker searching
• enabled customers to find details about more of their applications by expanding the search capability in the View Applications service to include Business Gateway applications

We are working on:

• providing greater accuracy within the estimated completion date feature, introducing more granular application types
• providing customers with more clarity on the progress of their application

We are exploring:

• how to reduce the limitations within the Reply to Requisition feature by including the ability to submit requisition responses for applications not lodged on the Digital Registration Service

Digital Registration Service

We recently:

• enabled users to edit all fields within a draft application - this removed the issue of having to restart applications after correcting simple errors  
• enabled users to access, complete and submit their colleagues saved (unsubmitted) applications within their business unit

We are working on:

• improving how we support users to draft right first time applications - specifically, we are improving adding additional parties to applications

We are exploring:

• other elements and customer issues within the DRS application journey that we can improve to support users to lodge right first time applications 
• options on how we can deliver increased validation through capturing more data, checking the data against another source of truth in HM Land Registry and checking the data against data contained in deeds

Search for land and property information

We recently:

• helped customers to more easily find a match to their search term - we have done this by allowing postcodes to be entered with or without a space in the middle as well as ignoring additional added spaces 
• made purchased documents available to the customer for longer, so that they can use them for longer - we are doing this by increasing the duration a purchased title plan and title register are available to view and download from 36 hours to 90 days 
• enabled users to maintain their citizen account information, to keep it up to date - we are doing this by allowing users to modify their citizen account details, including name, address and phone number

Business Gateway

We recently:

• reduced errors in applications by introducing validation of charge data for MD (Mortgage Documentation) references, as well as charge dates and charge fees
• introduced validation of fee data on discharges 
• enabled users to identify when a document contains a plan only and make an informed purchase decision by adding a ‘plan only’ flag in OCDA (Official Copy Document Availability)

We are working on:

• the next phase of the API (Application Programming Interface) Gateway migration, starting with RPN (Registered Proprietor Name) followed by the remaining REST (Representational State Transfer) services 
• identifying ways in which we can support customers to lodge right first time applications - we are doing this by exploring how we can check that more application data is valid and correct before it is submitted

We are exploring:

• options on how we can deliver increased validation through capturing more data, checking the data against another source of truth in HM Land Registry and checking the data against data contained in deeds
• improving the way we calculate Estimated Completion Date to provide more accurate information