The Land Registry completed more than 1.9 million applications in January, even as staff began to ‘work to rule’ over pay and conditions.
The number of applications to change or query the UK’s land register was up 26% from the seasonally quiet December, and unchanged from a year ago.
The South East topped the table of regional applications last month with 422,822 applications, followed by Greater London on 358,032, and the North West at 219,304.
Industrial action by around 3,800 Public and Commercial Services Union registry workers based in 14 offices across England and Wales began in the final week of last month.
The union said earlier this week that staff “continue taking action short of a strike”. The dispute concerns staff hours worked from home among other matters.
The action comes ahead of an expected spike in housebuying as borrowers rush to avoid stamp duty changes that take place on 1 April.
The current stamp duty threshold of £250,000 will halve to its previous level of £125,000 at the end of March, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves decided not to extend this temporary relief in her October Budget.
For first-time buyers, the stamp duty threshold falls to £300,000 from £425,000, while the maximum purchase price FTBs relief can be claimed on will fall to £500,000 from the current level of £625,000.
Last month, a Land Registry spokesman said: “We believe the forthcoming industrial action will cause minimal impact to our services.
“We will respond as needed to maintain essential services that support the property market, as we have always done during previous periods of industrial action.”
