HM Land Registry completed over 1.82 million applications to change or query deeds in May, down 0.3% from the previous month and 6.7% lower than a year ago.
The latest data from the land title body comes as ‘work to rule’ action by workers at the department enters its sixth month.
The South East topped the table of regional applications with 412,654 in May compared to 408,047 the previous month.
This was followed by Greater London with 342,449 applications against 336,247 the previous month and the North West, with 207,014 compared to 208,094 in April.
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 January.
The union said last week that “action short of a strike” continues at the offices over a dispute that concerns staff hours worked from home among other issues.
In February, the department said it would introduce digital checks that will cut back on the simple mistakes in names or title numbers on applications that will save customers hundreds of thousands of hours a year.
It added it would begin working with third-party integrators on the new service in the autumn, which will take several months to introduce.
