ST Helens Council will be one of the first local authorities in England to transfer its local land charge data to the Government’s new digital register.

HM Land Registry is working in partnership with up to 26 local authorities in England this year to migrate their Local Land Charges (LLC) data to a central, digital register in a phased approach.

Warwick District Council is the first authority to migrate to the new LLC register, which is expected to be completed by early 2019.

A decision has now been taken through delegated powers by St Helens Council to transfer its data to the new register.

A notice on the council’s website said: “Upon completion of the migration exercise, St Helens will no longer hold its own register however it will maintain responsibility for the upkeep of the register as part of its statutory duty.

“Future updating will be critical to the council’s statutory duty of maintaining the register.

“It is imperative that staff changes, and service moves are reported to the Land Charges team at the earliest point, as the information these contacts provide is essential to maintain the register.”

HM Land Registry launched the digital register earlier this month.

By 2022 all councils will have transferred to the central Land Register, as part of the Infrastructure Act 2016.

Graham Farrant, chief executive and chief land registrar, said: “Buying a house is the biggest financial investment of people’s lives.

“By centralising and digitising the local land charges information of local authorities in England we are helping to improve conveyancing.

“Search results from the new register will be instantly available in a standard, easy-to-read format.

“This is another significant step forward in the Government’s ambition to make the home-buying process simpler, faster and cheaper.”

Once the data is migrated, anyone will be able to get instant online search results via gov.uk