"While it has probably been one of the most difficult periods in our 147 year history, we are looking forward to implementing new plans which will see Land Registry emerge as an even more customer-focused organisation. The current property slump led to a challenging financial year, which has seen our core business collapse by up to 75 per cent in volume.
"In the future we envisage a smaller, leaner, more customer-focused organisation dealing with many applications electronically and providing an expanding range of products and services to customers."
Highlights of the year include:
the number of registered titles held on Land Registry's database reached 22 million
the first mortgage or e-charge was signed electronically on 24 March 2009
Land Registry won a medal in the organisational excellence section of the British Computer Society's IT industry awards for implementing electronic discharges
for the first time in its history Land Registry processed more voluntary than compulsory first registrations
the campaign to encourage owners of unregistered property to voluntarily sign up to the Land Register achieved its target of registering 325,000 hectares, with months to spare
historic properties such as Hereford Cathedral were registered for the first time
after a major consultation exercise, Land Registry introduced significant changes to the Land Registration Rules in order to improve operational efficiency and reduce the administrative burden on customers
the project to improve the index map passed the landmark of processing 2 million polygons (electronically created multisided figures that represent the registered extent of a title)
a major new five-year, £50 million contract was signed with IT firm Steria to provide Land Registry's distributed IT services.
Mr. Collis paid tribute to staff who left during the year. He thanked them for their loyalty and dedication to their work which reflected so well on them and on the organisation.
