The Land Registration Fee Order 2012

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order replaces the Land Registration Fee Order 2009. It makes changes to land registration fees.

The main changes made by the Order are:

(1) There are decreases in the following fees—

(a)fees payable under Scale 1 (Schedule 1) and Scale 2 (Schedule 2),

(b)fixed fee applications (Part 1 of Schedule 3),

(c)fees for inspection and copying, search and other information services (Parts 2, 3 and 4 of Schedule 3),

(d)the minimum fee for the registration of title to a lease or for the registration of the grant of a lease (article 2(2)(a)),

(e)the fee for an application for the first registration of a rentcharge (article 2(4)),

(f)fees for large scale applications (article 6), and

(g)the fee for an application where no other fee is prescribed (article 12).

(2) The maximum fee for a large scale application for first registration has decreased from £52,000 to £40,000 (article 6(4)).

(3) The amount payable towards the fee where the fee payable on an application is not immediately quantifiable has decreased from £50 to £40 (article 13(4)).

(4) The definition of “voluntary application” (article 1(2)) no longer includes applications for first registration of mines and minerals held apart from the surface and therefore the reduced voluntary application fee (articles 2(6) and 6(3)) no longer applies to these applications.

(5) Articles 2(6) and 6(3) provide that the reduced fee for voluntary applications is rounded down to the nearest £10, where the reduced fee is not a multiple of ten.

(6) Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 3 includes reference to applications to register an obligation to make further advances and an agreement of a maximum amount of security.

(7) The fee for an application to alter the register is now a fixed fee of £40 (paragraph 14 of Part 1 of Schedule 3), rather than a fee assessed under Scale 2.

(8) A fee of £5 is prescribed for an application for a historical copy of register entries, where the application is made by remote terminal (paragraph 8(a) of Part 2 of Schedule 3).

(9) The fee exemption for an application to lodge a caution against first registration or to make a register entry where the application relates to rights in respect of the repair of a church chancel will apply only if the application is lodged on or before 12 October 2013 (paragraph 15 of Schedule 4).

A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Personal Assistant to the Finance Director, Land Registry Head Office, Trafalgar House, 1 Bedford Park, Croydon CR0 2AQ and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.