Land Registries & Cadastres

In your country, the Land Registry and the Cadaster are they different institutions?

In England and Wales there is no Cadaster. We have instead:

• Her Majesty’s Land Registry (HMLR)
• The Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
• The Ordnance Survey (OS)

a) Which are the main duties of the respective organizations?

HMLR – to maintain a register of title to, and interests in, land.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry

VOA – to give the government the valuations and property advice needed to support taxation and benefits.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/valuation-office-agency

OS – the mapping agency, to create, maintain and disseminate geospatial and cartographic data and products –
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/about/governance/public-task.html

b) Which Ministry’s competence do they fall under?

HMLR – a non-ministerial department reporting to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
VOA – an executive agency sponsored by HM Revenue and Customs.
OS – a Government owned limited company, the entire issued share capital is held by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

c) Could you describe in brief the form of collaboration between the two institutions?

HMLR obtains its maps, used for title plans, under license from OS. We are also partnering with OS to encourage and support the innovative use of our datasets through the Geovation Programme: https://geovation.uk/programme/#what

VOA and HM Revenue and Customs can check HMLR “price paid” data to check valuations, and stamp duty land tax payments.