A Reading homeowner, Anthony Hockham, has been left unable to remortgage his £485,000 new build after HM Land Registry took more than two years to complete the registration of his property in his and his wife's names. The delay meant that when their two-year fixed-rate mortgage ended, they could not remortgage because lenders require a fully registered, undisputed title before releasing funds, leaving the family facing extra costs. The case highlights a wider problem, as Land Registry delays have grown significantly since the pandemic, with waits of six to twelve months or more now common for ownership transfers.

Hockham, 47, moved into the four-bedroom house in March 2024 but only discovered the registration was still incomplete in February this year, when conveyancers handling his remortgage sought information from HMLR. The organisation said the hold-up stemmed from unresolved issues with an earlier application by the property developer who sold Hockham the house, including months spent chasing clarifications over "errors or omissions", and that the developer's registration itself only landed two months before Hockham's own application was submitted. HMLR said it was working to resolve the matter and estimated that such delays could be costing the property industry up to £19 million a year, while Hockham stands to be £6,105 out of pocket as a result.