Conor Murphy

The Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) last month criticised the “considerable surpluses” generated from LandWeb users.

The surplus totals £39 million since 2006, indicating that customers “continue to pay too much for the services provided”, the NIAO said.

However, there is unlikely to be a surplus this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the finance minister has said.

“A surplus in the Land Registry fee income arose over the last three years as a result of the buoyancy in the property market, which saw a substantial increase in the number of transactions processed by the Land Registry, and improved efficiency in Land Registry operations,” he said.

“Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the property market, the number of applications submitted to the Land Registry is projected to be substantially lower in 2020/21 than in previous years and it is not anticipated that a surplus will be generated this year.”

Mr Murphy said earlier plans to revise land registration fees were delayed by the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2017 until 2020.

However, he said: “Work has restarted on preparing a new Fees Order with the aim of it being operative from April 2021.”