Standovers stood down

“Standover” is the term for Land Register applications set aside by RoS because they have omissions or defects. Rather than rejecting or cancelling them, we allow the submitting agent to put things right. In 2009, 36% of first time registrations, 29% of transfers of part and 12% of dealings with whole applications went into standover. On average 12% of applications received go into standover. The administration cost is significant and has to be borne by the conveyancing public, practitioners and RoS.

The majority of applications in standover are entirely avoidable and are there because of straightforward errors or the omission of key supporting evidence. In most cases, a requisition could be avoided with simple checking of the application before it is sent to RoS.

As of 1 September, steps have been taken to reduce the incidence and costs of requisitions. These include registering all discharges on receipt, whether or not they have been marked as “to follow”. This may result in a land certificate being issued showing an outstanding standard security by the previous owner. If an application to register the discharge is submitted before the related application is completed, RoS will process them together.

In addition, notices at the end of the 60-day standover period will be discontinued. Failure to respond to a request within this period will result in the application being cancelled, or progressed with an exclusion of indemnity. The period may be extended if written notice is given with a valid reason.

If standover rates remain high, RoS may have to introduce further measures. These range from seeking legislative change to reduce the standover period from the current 60 days, through to withdrawal of the facility for certain transaction types and/or certain errors and omissions.

There is an alternative for dealings with whole to the current paper-based registration system – ARTL (Automated Registration of Title to Land), which also offers reduced registration fees. Information on the types of transactions available under ARTL can be found at www.ros.gov.uk/artl/faqs.html .

• For further guidance on the changes to standover policy, please visit www.ros.gov.uk/pdfs/update28.pdf