16 January 2026
Delays at HM Land Registry are no longer a background irritation but a growing source of professional risk. Writing in NLJ this week, Phil Murrin of DAC Beachcroft explores how the ‘registration gap’—now stretching up to two years in complex cases—is fuelling client frustration, priority disputes, and negligence claims
The article situates the problem within the Land Registry’s Strategy 2025+, which candidly concedes that processes are slow and that there is no quick fix, despite ambitious plans for digitisation and AI-assisted workflows.
Murrin explains why equitable title during prolonged gaps complicates everything from landlord notices to enfranchisement, while also creating cost and reputational pressures for firms. His practical guidance urges lawyers to adapt drafting, monitor applications proactively, resolve requisitions substantively, and assume long delays as the new normal.
The message is blunt: the gap is a problem of our time, and firms must manage it or absorb the risk.
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