Clause 66 - Inspection of the registers etc
Land Registration Bill [Lords]
12:50 pm
Mr Michael Wills (Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department; North Swindon, Labour)
I agree with the hon. Member for Stone that the clause is important. It provides that, subject to any exceptions and provisions specified in the rules, anyone may inspect and make copies of the register of title together with any other documents either referred to in the register or kept in relation to an application affecting that register.
As the hon. Gentleman divined, the rules made under the clause will reflect the principles underlying the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Leases and charges will not be excluded automatically from the list of documents to which the public have a right of access, as they are under existing legislation. The presumption in the 2000 Act is that information will be supplied unless there is good reason for it to be withheld. There are two bases on which the register of information might be withheld under the exceptions stated in that Act. Following application of the Data Protection Act 1998, information may also be withheld on the grounds of personal or commercial sensitivity.
Land registration rules will clarify how the principles will be applied, but if leases were excluded as a class, better information on leases—our consultations show clearly that that is what businesses want—would be difficult or impossible to assemble. However, I assure the hon. Gentleman that rules are likely to provide for persons submitting documents to assert confidentiality in case of objection and an independent adjudicator or a court will decide between them. I hope that that will give him some comfort.
The amendments seek to reproduce the current position when leases and charges are automatically and permanently excluded, and that would not only be damaging to the greater transparency of the markets, but offend the principles on which the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is based.
The consultant who carried out the quinquennial review of the Land Registry's work reported that there was particular enthusiasm among users at the prospect of wider information on leasehold property shedding light on commercial property transactions and so creating a better and more competitive market.
The details of what will be released and what will be withheld will be subject to land registration rules. I remind the Committee that those rules will be subject to the scrutiny of the Rule Committee and Parliament. They will also be subject to widespread consultation with all those involved in conveyancing. That will ensure that the rules provide for the exclusion of appropriate documents, including leases and charges, from the public gaze in the way envisaged by the Freedom of Information Act. They may usefully describe how the Registry will identify documents as of a commercially sensitive nature.
I hope that those assurances will be adequate and that the hon. Gentleman will feel able to withdraw the amendment.