A quick phone call is being used by HM Land Registry as a new route to settle simple application queries

Land Registry has revealed that in excess of 3,500 applications per day include missing, unfinished or incorrectly drawn information. A caseworker evaluates the matter and a request for information, known as a ‘requisition’, is often sent out. A requisition can hinder the completion of a straightforward case as applications can take up to two weeks to update.

In a blog, customer policy executive Darren Standring stated that feedback showed customers ‘like a quick phone call’ how to fix a simple application issue. ‘We don’t currently have comprehensive information on how often they were used and how much time they saved for customers and for our caseworkers. The aim of the trial is to help us make evidence-driven decisions about the future of telephone requisitions,’ he noted.

At present, older cases are being trialled in which a caseworker will call a conveyancer. If however the issue cannot be resolved over the phone, a requisition will be made in writing as before. Most requisitions are emailed to conveyancers.

Telephone requisitions will be tested for no less than a month. ‘We will then take stock of what the trial has told us and make a decision on how to proceed. At this stage we are not necessarily committing to the reintroduction of telephone requisitions as we want to be sure that any long-term solution provides real support for our customers as well as bringing greater efficiency – and therefore speed – to our services,’ Standring noted.