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Practice Guide 59 – Receiving and replying to requisitions by email

Issued: August 2004

Scope of this guide

This guide gives advice on when and how Land Registry will issue formal requisitions by email and how you can reply to them. This new facility is being introduced from September 2004 and will be rolled out across all our offices, taking approximately two months to implement fully. This guide is aimed at conveyancers, companies and private individuals who could receive requisitions and you should interpret ‘you’ accordingly. Land Registry staff will also refer to it.

1 Abbreviations used

In this guide:

‘LRR 2003’ means the Land Registration Rules 2003

‘DX’ means the Document Exchange as used by members (legal profession and other business users)

‘pdf’ means portable document format (.pdf).

2 Introduction

An address for service entered in the register may now include an email address (r.198(4)(c), LRR 2003). So, when Land Registry needs to send a notice to somebody named in the register, we will also send it to any email address in addition to postal or DX addresses. For further information see Practice Guide 55 – Address for service and Practice Guide 45 – Receiving and replying to notices by email.

This facility is being extended to include sending requisitions by email, including cancellation reminders, where it is appropriate to do so and the applicant has provided an email address for this purpose on the application form. See Practice Guide 50 – Requisition and cancellation procedures for general information on requisitions.

3 Sending requisitions by email

All current application forms (Schedule 1, LRR 2003) have provision for the person lodging the application to insert an email address. If an email address is provided we will use this as the method of sending requisitions that arise during the course of registration, unless it is inappropriate to do so. For example, if it is necessary to return documents then we will raise a paper requisition in the usual way.

You must provide your email address on each new application if you want us to raise requisitions in this way, as we will not ask you to ‘register’ an email address for this purpose. This allows you to nominate a different email address for each application lodged, should you wish.

4 Exceptions

We will not:

look for an email address in any accompanying letter
investigate any incomplete email address
investigate any email address if the electronic requisition is returned to us undelivered. In this circumstance, we will then raise a written requisition
raise a written requisition if we receive an automated reply telling us that the person dealing with the application is not in the office, for example is on holiday. It is your responsibility to ensure that an absent colleague’s work is dealt with and requisition deadlines are adhered to.

Electronic requisitions will be in the same format as written requisitions sent by post or DX and will be sent as an attachment to an email.

Each email with a requisition attached will contain the following message:

“The document attached is an official requisition, reminder or letter from Land Registry. It is not a circular and relates either to an application you have lodged with us or a property in which you have an interest. No paper copy of the item of correspondence will be sent to you.

The document is in ‘Portable Document Format’ which replicates the appearance of the hard copy version. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the document. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat Reader it can be installed free from www.adobe.com.”

5 Cancellation reminders

We will also send electronically any letters in respect of cancellation of applications where you have supplied us with an email address. As with the original requisition, we will not send any duplicate paper cancellation reminder.

6 Replying to requisitions by email

You will be able to reply by clicking the ‘reply’ button. Your reply will automatically be sent to the team dealing with your application.

You will not be able to reply by making comments on our requisition. Your reply must take the form of a separate email or a written reply if you prefer.

The return email address will be given in the requisition in case a third party provides a reply.

7 Enquiries and comments

If you have a particular concern that is not covered by this guide, please contact Customer Support – see Contact details.

If you have any comments or suggestions about our guides, please send them to:

Central Operations Group
Land Registry
Trafalgar House
1 Bedford Park
Croydon
CR0 2AQ

(DX 8888 Croydon 3)

You can obtain further copies of this and all our guides free from Customer Support or you can download them from our website in English and Welsh at www.landregistry.gov.uk

Land Registry advisory policy

We offer advice to our customers through our publications and Customer Support information and through the day-to-day handling of applications.

We provide factual information including official copies of registers, title plans and documents, searches and details of our forms and fees.

We provide procedural advice to explain how the land registration system works and how to make applications correctly. This includes:

advice in advance of an application, where this is requested
where an application is defective, advice as to the nature of the problem and what options, if any, are available to put it right
an approval service for estate layout plans and certain other land registration documents.

There are limits to the advice that we will provide. We will not provide legal advice.

This means that:

we will not approve the evidence to be produced in support of a registration application before we receive the application
apart from procedural advice, we will not advise on what action to take
we will not recommend a professional adviser but can explain how to find one.

We provide advice only about real cases, not about theoretical circumstances. We will not express a view on questions where the law is complex or unclear except where the question arises on a live registration application.

In providing this factual information and procedural advice we will:

be impartial
recognise that others may be affected by what we say
avoid any conflict of interest.

Contact details

For customer enquiries and to request this publication in an alternative format please contact Customer Support at customersupport@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk or telephone 0844 892 1111, or 0844 892 1122 for a Welsh-speaking service, from Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm. Calls cost 3p a minute on a BT standard tariff, in addition to the current set up/connection charge. Calls from other tariffs, service providers and mobile phones may cost more. We do not receive any revenue from these calls.

To obtain copies of this and all our other guides, free of charge:

view/download guides in English and Welsh at www.landregistry.gov.uk
contact Customer Support.

Information in this guide

The information in this publication is for the purpose of providing general guidance about Land Registry's procedures and policies. It is intended only as a guide and does not cover every situation that may arise. It also does not limit Land Registry's ability to use its discretion when appropriate to do so, within the land registration legislation.

Remember

We will send a requisition by email if a complete email address is given on the application form.
You cannot amend an emailed requisition.
We will not investigate incomplete email addresses or emails returned to us undelivered.
Cancellation reminders will also be sent electronically where an email address has been supplied.

Chief Land Registrar

Not to be reproduced without permission from The Forms Unit, Land Registry (under the delegated authority from the Controller of HMSO), Trafalgar House, 1 Bedford Park, Croydon CR0 2AQ