From late August 2026, HM Land Registry will stop attaching PDFs to application emails such as requisitions, letters and notices, and will instead send a secure link that stays live for 200 days. Emails will come from hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk via GOV.UK Notify.
TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 22 July 2026
- From late August 2026, HM Land Registry application correspondence, including requisitions, letters and notices, will arrive as a secure link in the email rather than as a PDF attachment.
- The secure link will remain available for 200 days, giving recipients time to access and save their documents.
- The emails will be sent from hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk, and HM Land Registry suggests adding this address to safe senders lists.
- Email notifications themselves continue as now, and nothing changes about how PDFs are shown in the portal; only the method of accessing documents sent by email changes.
- The change follows updates to Microsoft's email software and uses GOV.UK Notify, the secure government platform HM Land Registry has already used for some notices for more than a year.
- Link-based official emails are a common phishing template, so checking the exact sender address before clicking becomes the key habit once the change lands.
HM Land Registry application emails: before and after late August 2026
| Requisitions, letters, notices by email | PDF attachment | Secure link in the email |
| Link availability | Not applicable | 200 days to access and save documents |
| Sender address | Varies | hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk |
| Email notifications | Sent as now | Sent as now, unchanged |
| Documents in the portal | PDFs shown in portal | Unchanged |
| Delivery platform | Standard email | GOV.UK Notify, in use at HMLR for over a year |
Source: HM Land Registry, 22 July 2026
KEY FACTS
- Start date: late August 2026, with further updates and reminders promised to customers before the change
- Scope: application-related correspondence including requisitions, letters and notices
- Link validity: 200 days from the email, for accessing and saving documents
- Official sender address: hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk, worth adding to safe senders lists now
- Unchanged: email notifications continue, and PDFs in the HM Land Registry portal are displayed exactly as before
What is changing in HM Land Registry emails
From late August 2026, application-related correspondence from HM Land Registry, including requisitions, letters and notices, will arrive as a secure link inside the email rather than as a PDF attachment, with the link staying live for 200 days.
HM Land Registry announced the change on 22 July 2026. At present, when the registry corresponds about an application, the document itself typically arrives as a PDF attached to the email. Under the new approach, the email will instead contain a secure link which gives the recipient access to the correspondence, and that link will remain available for 200 days, which the registry says gives customers time to access and save documents as required. The change covers the correspondence conveyancers and applicants deal with most: requisitions raised on applications, letters and notices. The emails will be sent from a single address, hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk, and HM Land Registry has suggested customers may wish to add that address to their safe senders list to make sure correspondence keeps arriving without interruption once the switch happens. The registry has also said further updates and reminders will be shared with customers ahead of the change, so firms have a window of several weeks to adjust internal processes before the new format goes live.
What is not changing
Email notifications about requisitions, letters and notices continue exactly as now, and nothing changes about how PDFs are displayed in the HM Land Registry portal; the only change is how documents sent by email are accessed.
HM Land Registry has been specific about the boundaries of the change. Customers will continue to receive email notifications about requisitions, letters and notices on the same basis as today; what changes is only the method of accessing the documents those emails relate to. For firms that work primarily through the portal, there is no change at all to how PDFs are shown there, so portal-based workflows can continue untouched. The practical impact therefore falls mainly on processes built around email attachments: case management systems that automatically file attached PDFs, admin routines that forward attachments internally, and archiving practices that treat the email itself as the document store. Under the new approach the document sits behind the secure link rather than inside the message, which means a saved email alone will no longer contain the correspondence, and the 200-day availability window becomes the effective deadline for downloading anything a firm wants to keep in its own records. Building the download step into case workflows before late August is the simplest way to avoid gaps.
Why is HM Land Registry making this change
The registry says the change follows updates to Microsoft's email software and will help it continue providing a secure and reliable service, delivered through GOV.UK Notify, the government messaging platform it has already used for some notices for more than a year.
The registry frames the move as being about security and simplicity. Changes to Microsoft's email software sit behind the timing, and moving documents behind a secure link rather than sending them as attachments is a widely used pattern for exactly this reason: attachments are a common vehicle for malware, are increasingly filtered or modified by email security systems, and can be forwarded without any control over who accesses them. The delivery mechanism is GOV.UK Notify, the government's central messaging platform, which is used across public services for emails, texts and letters and which HM Land Registry has already used to send some notices for over a year, so the underlying infrastructure is established rather than new. For recipients, the practical effect is that the correspondence lives on a government-controlled service accessed through the link, rather than as a file that happens to be sitting in an inbox. The single, consistent sender address is part of the same design: one known address is easier to allow-list, easier to teach staff to recognise, and easier to distinguish from lookalike addresses used in phishing attempts.
How can you tell a genuine HM Land Registry email from a scam
Genuine application emails will come from hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk; the safest habit is to check that exact address on every link-based email and to access documents through the portal directly if anything looks unusual.
A change like this is worth understanding partly because official emails containing links are the template most phishing campaigns imitate, and fraudsters routinely exploit publicised transitions by sending fake versions of the new format. Property transactions are a particular target because of the sums involved. Once the change lands, the reliable check is the sender address: genuine application correspondence will come from hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk, and notifications.service.gov.uk is the GOV.UK Notify sending domain used across government. An email claiming to be from HM Land Registry from any other address deserves suspicion, as does any message that creates urgency around clicking, asks for payment, or requests login credentials or personal details in reply. Anyone unsure about a specific email can avoid the link entirely and access their correspondence through the HM Land Registry portal directly, since the portal's display of PDFs is unchanged. Firms may also want to brief staff that the new link-based format is genuine, so that real correspondence is not deleted as suspected phishing during the transition, while keeping the address-checking habit for every message.
What should firms and applicants do before late August
Add the official sender address to safe senders lists, brief staff on the new link format, adjust any workflow that relies on saving attachments, and build the 200-day download window into case management routines.
The preparation is modest but worth doing deliberately. Adding hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk to safe senders lists, at organisation level where email is centrally managed, protects against genuine correspondence being filtered when the format changes. Conveyancing and legal teams should know in advance that documents will arrive as links, both so that genuine emails are trusted and so that the absence of an attachment is not read as an error. Any automation or filing convention that captures attached PDFs from registry emails needs a new step: following the link and saving the document into the firm's own records, comfortably inside the 200-day window rather than at its edge. HM Land Registry has said reminders will be issued before the switch, so the announcement is the start of the transition rather than the whole of it, and firms that adjust early will simply see the new format arrive without disruption. For individual applicants dealing with the registry directly, the same two habits cover it: check the sender address, and save your documents promptly once accessed rather than relying on the link remaining available.
How to prepare before late August 2026
- Add hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk to the safe senders list in your email client or organisation-wide filter.
- Tell conveyancing, legal and admin staff that HMLR documents will arrive as links, not attachments, so genuine emails are not mistaken for phishing.
- Update any internal document-handling rules that rely on saving PDF attachments from HMLR emails.
- Diarise document downloads well inside the 200-day link window and save copies to your own case files.
- Check the exact sender address on every link-based email before clicking, and access the portal directly if anything looks unusual.
RELATED GUIDES
DISCLAIMER
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or conveyancing advice. Details of the change are as announced by HM Land Registry on 22 July 2026 and may be updated before implementation; firms should follow HM Land Registry's own communications for the definitive position.
Frequently asked questions
When do HM Land Registry emails change to secure links
From late August 2026. HM Land Registry has said further updates and reminders will be shared with customers ahead of the change.
How long does the secure link stay available
The secure link in each email remains available for 200 days, which HM Land Registry says gives customers time to access and save their documents as required.
What email address will HM Land Registry documents come from
Application correspondence will be sent from hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk via GOV.UK Notify, and HM Land Registry suggests adding this address to safe senders lists.
Is the HM Land Registry portal changing too
No. There are no changes to the way PDFs are shown in the portal, and email notifications about requisitions, letters and notices continue as now. Only the method of accessing documents sent by email changes.
How do I know an HM Land Registry email is genuine
Check that the sender address is exactly hm.land.registry@notifications.service.gov.uk, be wary of messages creating urgency or requesting payment or credentials, and access documents through the portal directly if in any doubt.
SOURCES
- HM Land Registry, changes to how HM Land Registry sends emails about applications – accessed 22 July 2026
- HM Land Registry, GOV.UK – accessed 22 July 2026
- GOV.UK Notify – accessed 22 July 2026
