Urgent: Land Registry

We’ve got 24 hours to throw a spanner in the works of the government’s plans to sell off the Land Registry, the profitable public service that records the sale of property and land. Private companies running the Land Registry could mean hiked prices, cover-ups and our data in dodgy hands – but together we can nip this plan in the bud.

The government is consulting on their plans right now – and the deadline for responses is Thursday. If the consultation is filled with responses from thousands of us, voicing our opposition to the sell-off, the government could be forced to scrap their plans.

So can you take part in the consultation now? We’ve put the government’s questions into an easy-to-use survey and once you’re done, we’ll forward your responses to the government. It’ll only take a few minutes and there’s some tips for what to say:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/have-your-say-land-reg

This isn’t the first time the government’s tried to sell off the Land Registry. They tried to pull the same trick in 2014 – but hundreds of thousands of 38 Degrees members came together in opposition – and they were forced to stand down because of people power. 

This time around, we’re ready. Public opposition to the Land Registry sell-off is mounting. Experts of all stripes have already spoken against it, and the picture they paint isn’t pretty:

– A senior advisor to the World Bank has said that privatising the Land Registry would increase corruption across the UK. 
– The Open Data Institute, a transparency body set up by the government, has warned that the Land Registry would be open to fraud and manipulation if sold into private hands.
– Once sold, there’s no guarantee that Land Registry data would be publicly accessible – meaning we’d lose crucial information about dodgy purchases, sales, and tax-dodging deals. 
– The government’s claiming that selling the Land Registry is necessary to save money. But this is just smoke and mirrors – the Land Registry is self-financing and doesn’t cost the taxpayer a penny to run. 

Hundreds of thousands of us have already signed a petition against the sale. But we’ll pack an even bigger punch if we feed our comments right into the government consultation. So can you have your say now?

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/have-your-say-land-reg