Guidance

Our service standards

Updated 2 October 2024

Applies to England and Wales

Application processing times

See HM Land Registry: processing times for our latest application processing times.

1. Customer service standards

Read our Strategy 2022+ to understand our commitment to you and what we need from you to help us deliver our mission.

1.1 Written correspondence

We aim to reply to written correspondence and emails within 5 working days.

This standard does not apply to requests for information handled under information legislation such as the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). We will to respond to DPA and UK GDPR requests within one calendar month and we will respond to EIR and FOI requests within 20 working days.

Requests for information are handled following our Data Protection and Freedom of Information policies. Please refer to our personal information charter for information about how we process personal data and our publication scheme which explains how to access HM Land Registry information.

1.2 Phone calls

If you call us, we will try to answer your question straight away. If we cannot do this, we will contact you within 5 working days with a reply, or tell you when you can expect one.

1.3 Online support

We aim to respond to posts on our blog and social media accounts within 2 hours during service hours (9am to 5pm on weekdays) and within 1 working day outside of service hours (weekends and overnight).

By using these services, you agree to our discussion policy.

1.4 Advice

We offer advice as part of our application-handling process and through customer support and publications.

We provide only:

• factual information, which includes official copies of registers, title plans, searches, forms and fees
• procedural advice, which includes explaining how the land registration system works and how to make applications

If there’s a problem with your application, we can give advice as to the nature of the problem and what options may be available to put it right, but cannot advise what action you should take.

We do not give legal advice and cannot recommend a professional advisor, but can explain how to find one.

We provide only advice about land registration issues and only where they concern real cases, not theoretical circumstances. We will not express a view on questions where the law is complicated or unclear, unless the question arises on a live registration application.

In giving advice, we will avoid any conflict of interest and recognise that others may be affected by what we say. Where we do give advice, we cannot confirm in advance what the outcome of an application will be.

1.5 Alternative formats

We offer some information in alternative formats, such as audio tape or large print. If you need our information in an alternative format, contact us and we will try to help.

1.6 Local Land Charges

When a request for information is made under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, we will respond within 20 working days.

1.7 Suggestions, compliments and complaints

Suggestions for improvements will always be considered, but may not be possible for us to implement.

Any compliments received will be passed on to the staff concerned. If you complain, we will remain impartial in investigating your complaint and will not discriminate against you.

We will:

• acknowledge your complaint within 24 hours
• review and respond to your complaint within 20 working days under Stage 1 of our internal complaints procedures

All complaints are handled following our complaints procedure.

1.8 Unreasonable behaviour

We treat all customers with courtesy and respect and expect our staff to be treated in the same way.

Some examples of unreasonable behaviour are:

• use of threats, verbal abuse, racist or sexist language, derogatory remarks, or other offensive terms unsubstantiated allegations
• refusing to accept our procedures by demanding to only communicate with certain senior members of staff
• contacting different members of staff or making repeated requests with the motive of receiving a different response to what has been stated
• persistently contacting us on matters which are either outside our remit or over which we have no control

If we consider your behaviour unreasonable, you will be:

• told why we consider it unreasonable
• asked to change it
• told what action will be taken if you do not change your behaviour

If your unreasonable behaviour continues, we will take action to manage contact with us. This may include:

• not responding to your correspondence
• blocking electronic communication
• terminating abusive or offensive phone calls
• asking you to contact a named member of staff only
• restricting telephone contact to specified days and times only
• restricting all contact to written form only
• restricting the issues we will correspond on
• declining communication on a specific matter
• reading and filing correspondence without a response, unless it provides new information or evidence on the matter (see After we have given our final response)
• asking that contact is through an independent third party, such as Citizens Advice Bureau, legal representative or conveyancer

If you have a disability or mental health issue, we will consider whether your unreasonable behaviour relates to those issues and assess the potential impact of restrictions imposed by us.

If you are dissatisfied with the way that your access has been limited, you should use our complaints procedure to explain this.

1.9 After we have given our final response

If we consider that a final response has been given on a specific issue, we will explain that and tell you that we will not respond to you about it further.

This will be considered when:

• there is nothing useful that can be added to what has already been said
• your behaviour is unreasonable

Once this decision has been made, we will not normally communicate with you on that issue unless:

• closure needs to be reiterated
• a new issue or evidence is raised
• a new complaint about the way the matter has been handled is raised