[5] HM Land Registry is internally independent and receives no government funding; it charges fees for applications lodged by customers.

Until April 2020, HM Land Registry received no government funding, being required to ensure that its income covers expenditure, and finances itself from registration and search fees.

[9] It provides online access to its database of titles (ownership and charges or interests by other parties) and most plans (maps).

According to HM Land Registry:[11] Registration establishes proof of ownership and produces an easy-to-read document reflecting the contents of all the paper title deeds.

All title information is kept on HM Land Registry's database, reducing the need to store old and often unclear deeds.

[13] It is important that the original title deeds are retained as they will provide a starting point if ever it is necessary to identify the precise position of the boundaries.

[14] HM Land Registry has 14 offices at: Birkenhead, Coventry, Croydon, Durham, Fylde (Warton), Gloucester, Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Swansea, Telford and Weymouth.

HM Land Registry announced proposals to close five offices at Portsmouth, Tunbridge Wells, Croydon, Stevenage and Peterborough.

[18] From 6 January 2014, all paper applications lodged by members of the public have been processed at the Citizen Centre at Land Registry Wales Office.

From July 2013, the functions of the Adjudicator have been transferred to the Land Registration division of the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.

The system of registration adopted differed somewhat from that piloted in South Australia by that colony's then Premier Sir Robert Torrens, although both were founded on the 1857 report.

In 1897 the then Lord Chancellor, Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury, introduced the Land Transfer Act 1897, which brought an element of compulsion into the registration system.

In 1940, after damage sustained in the 193rd air raid on Central London, HM Land Registry was evacuated to the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth so that it could carry on its normal business.

Theodore Ruoff, who was appointed Chief Land Registrar in 1963, confirmed the three fundamental principles of Land Registration that had been laid down in the LRA 1925:[24] New offices were opened in Gloucester and Stevenage (1964), Durham and Harrow (1965), Plymouth (1966), Croydon and Swansea (1967), Birkenhead and Weymouth (1977), Peterborough (1978), Telford (1986), Coventry and Hull (1987), Leicester (1988), Portsmouth (1989), York (1991) and Lancashire (2000).

were not public records, and processing them required laborious typing and the completion of plans by hand using paintbrushes and ink on linen.

HM Land Registry retained the originals, and the copies were sewn, using needle and thread, into large certificates.

The new home of the Information Systems department, a state-of-the-art office with 500 staff, was opened in 2005 in Plymouth's International Business Park.

The title register is a detailed record of ownership and legal interests for a specific parcel of land or property.

The HM Land Registry's role in maintaining accurate and up-to-date title plans and registers underpins the efficiency and security of property transactions in England and Wales.

On 23 January 2014, the Government issued a public consultation on its proposal to create a service delivery company to carry out the day-to-day process of land registration.

This might be either a wholly Government-owned company or privately owned, and was to be subject to regulation from the Office of the Chief Land Registrar, which would remain part of Government.

[32] In November 2015, it was reported that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was reconsidering privatising the agency[33] and an article in PoliticsHome noted that all potential bidders were linked to tax havens.

The Conveyancing Association has argued that a ‘reversal of the recent halving of fees’ could in fact double Land Registry's income ‘yet is a relatively small burden for the homebuyer in amongst the other costs and charges involved in the process’ of privatisation’.

[35] The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has claimed that the privatisation would give a private organisation monopoly to commercially valuable data and provide little inclination to improve anyone's access to it.

[36] Currently the Land Registry makes some datasets available for purchase by private companies and other organisations, such as Search Providers.

Modernisation will maximise the value of HM Land Registry to the economy, and should be completed without a need for significant Exchequer investment.