Thousands of Land Registry civil servants who voted to strike in a dispute about working from home have been accused of holding Brits to ransom.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced on Friday that 3,800 members at the Land Registry based in 14 offices were being ordered back to the office for three days a week.
PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote said ministers should trust their employees to have a say over working conditions and stop acting like Victorian bosses.
Mortgage, property and conveyancing experts have warned that strike action will worsen already severe delays for buyers and sellers ahead of stamp duty changes due in April.
Simon Bridgland, Director at financial advisor Release Freedom, said: “The delays at the Land Registry are already monumental, so any strike action will simply magnify them to biblical proportions.
“Staff being called into the office to catch up on work should be seen as a priority and part of the job for employees, not an opportunity for industrial action by yet another government department to hold their employers and the nation to ransom.”
Adam Stiles, Managing Director at mortgage advisor Helix Financial Partners, said some registrations at the Land Registry are already taking a year to two years.
He added: “These delays are having a meaningful impact on property transactions to the detriment of everyone involved.
“Adding in strikes will not only exacerbate an already arduous and frustrating situation, it will create huge problems in the run-up to the stamp duty changes in April.”
Buyers of homes worth less than £250,000 do not have to pay stamp duty, but the nil rate threshold will drop to £125,000 at the end of the current financial year.
Under the plans announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Budget, the nil rate threshold for first-time buyers will be cut from £425,000 to £300,000.
Mr Stiles warned delays caused by strike action at the Land Registry mean several buyers won't complete before April, risking the collapse of some sales as people struggle to find the extra money.
He advised buyers to start the process as soon as possible, adding: “If there are any delays, then that's the only thing you can do. Get your ducks in a row and start that journey.”
Craig Fish, Director at Lodestone Mortgages & Protection, said: “To hear the Land Registry are still working from home is shocking and explains why there is such a backlog in registrations.
“Strike action will be disastrous and have serious implications. Being asked to work and catch up on backlogs should be the norm, not an excuse to strike.
“Get them back in the office five days a week and make overtime compulsory to bring down backlogs.”
A Land Registry spokesperson said: “We have received confirmation of the ballot results from PCS. HM Land Registry has plans in place to manage services during any periods of industrial action, as has happened in previous years.
“More than 90% of all customer requests we receive are processed within a month, although some of our applications (roughly 2%) are taking longer than we, or our customers, would like.
“Over the course of 2024 the time taken to complete these cases has fallen significantly and we intend to continue this improvement in the coming year.”
The spokesperson added if an application becomes urgent – for example for a re-mortgage or a resale – it can be expedited on request free of charge, with more than 95% of expedited cases processed within 10 days.
According to the Land Registry, just over 30% of applications to update the register are automated and completed within minutes. Over half of the remaining applications to update the register, such as changing a name or transferring a property title, take 12 weeks to complete, with most completed in about five months.
Land Registry figures show staff have reduced the proportion – roughly 2% – of outstanding applications older than 12 months from a peak of 20 months in spring 2023 to less than 14.5 months.