Written question asked by Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) on Wednesday, 5 September 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 12 September 2007. It was answered by Lord Wills (Labour) on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Electronic Conveyancing

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to prevent the emergence of a monopoly in the provision of e-conveyancing through the chain matrix system.

Answer: Land Registry is empowered by primary legislation under the Land Registration Act 2002 to create the Chain Matrix as the system by which e-conveyancing, a statutory service, is accessed. As such, land registry is not obliged to offer alternative methods of access or service delivery. Chain Matrix itself, however, is not a unique product within the market as there are other types of electronic property sale tracking systems operating at present. As such, the monopoly question does not apply.

Secondary information