Land Registry Privatisation.

Jamesjames

The government has announced it plans to privatise the Land registry.

Is this ever going to be a good thing? Would it benefit buyers or sellers in any way? Your thoughts please.

See this

csgohan4

Hope not, but sadly like the Junior doctor contracts will be imposed regardless of public opinion or those affected.


This government gets better and better

moneyistooshorttomention

Gut reaction - its a bad idea.

My experience of them has been that they do provide an impartial/helpful service on balance.

Add the fact that the charge is very reasonable currently to obtain Title Plans/Register entries on properties and its a racing certainty that that would be put up if it were privatised.

csgohan4

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Gut reaction - its a bad idea.

My experience of them has been that they do provide an impartial/helpful service on balance.

Add the fact that the charge is very reasonable currently to obtain Title Plans/Register entries on properties and its a racing certainty that that would be put up if it were privatised.

Look at the trains, it costs more to take a train than to drive which is silly, since one of the reasons was the environmental impact

moneyistooshorttomention

csgohan4 wrote: »

Look at the trains, it costs more to take a train than to drive which is silly, since one of the reasons was the environmental impact

Hmmm....sometimes on the face of it - ie if one only counts the petrol cost in car compared to ticket price on train. But that would depend on whether the petrol cost was shared with other adult/s. Even comparing one person with one person either way - it costs hundreds of £s a month to keep a car on the road (according to AA figures - and they didnt seem to be counting parking costs into that).

Personally - I find it much cheaper not having a car. I'm only paying out for the occasional taxi and very occasional train fare. I'd still be quids-in on the cost of running a car even if I didnt have a bus pass.

I dont think train fares are bad personally by and large (recent return train trip that took 7 hours or so each way was somewhere around £50 return as far as I recall - and would have been about £80 odd return without my senior railcard). The service, on the other hand, is appalling (with not even having a guarantee of a seat unless one is reserved)/often no buffet car any longer/the seating has got worse and worse over the years.

************

But I'm not quite sure how trains came into a thread on the Land Registry?...

csgohan4

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Hmmm....sometimes on the face of it - ie if one only counts the petrol cost in car compared to ticket price on train. But that would depend on whether the petrol cost was shared with other adult/s. Even comparing one person with one person either way - it costs hundreds of £s a month to keep a car on the road (according to AA figures - and they didnt seem to be counting parking costs into that).

Personally - I find it much cheaper not having a car. I'm only paying out for the occasional taxi and very occasional train fare. I'd still be quids-in on the cost of running a car even if I didnt have a bus pass.

I dont think train fares are bad personally by and large (recent return train trip that took 7 hours or so each way was somewhere around £50 return as far as I recall - and would have been about £80 odd return without my senior railcard). The service, on the other hand, is appalling (with not even having a guarantee of a seat unless one is reserved)/often no buffet car any longer/the seating has got worse and worse over the years.

************

But I'm not quite sure how trains came into a thread on the Land Registry?...

privatisation....

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Trains are better now - and if you don't believe me/are too young look at the rocketing passenger numbers. BR was a joke.

buglawton

The land registry currently employs over 4,500 civil servants. That's rather a lot. On the other hand the govt extracts huge fees for property transfers. Privatise and reduce stamp duty - quid pro quo, eh?

westv

buglawton wrote: »

The land registry currently employs over 4,500 civil servants. That's rather a lot.

Is it? Compared to what? There are a lot of property transactions too.

moneyistooshorttomention

Must confess - as an ex civil servant too - it does make life easier dealing with them when you know the "mindset". It must be a sight easier for everyone else too - as you know that they will have an attitude of "abiding by the rules" - so you just have to work out what the rules are and it's easy.

If something is private sector its sometimes anyone's guess how things actually are supposed to function and you have to sometimes work that out before you can actually manage to get anything done...imho. There will be a noticeable number of people with the "old civil service mindset" too - ie public service ethos and genuinely wanting to help people and that makes life easier again if one can find one of them.

iantojones40

Bad news if it means previous sold prices are no longer freely available... The number of kite flyers really would skyrocket.