generated: '2026-07-26' method: searched source: https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/a-guide-to-testing docs: - https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/a-guide-to-testing - https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/apis/submit-an-application/1.0/test-stubs - https://landregistry.github.io/bgtechdoc/rest/get_started/developer_guide/index.html summary: >- HM Land Registry's test story is split and its own documentation contradicts itself, which is recorded here as found. The Business Gateway developer guide states that Business Gateway provides both a test and a production environment, and the customer test host bgtest.landregistry.gov.uk is declared as a server in every published REST contract. The newer developer pack testing guide, covering the Submit an application family, says instead that HMLR "does not currently provide a test environment for integrators using our Business Gateway APIs" and supplies published request/response test stubs as example code, adding that a sandbox test environment is planned with no confirmed release date. Both statements are reproduced below. The test environment, where available, is not self-serve: it is unlocked by signing a development licence and receiving a test SSL certificate from HMLR. There are no anonymously reachable sandbox credentials. self_serve: false test_live_separation: style: separate host environments: - name: Customer Test host: https://bgtest.landregistry.gov.uk base_paths: - /bg2test/api - /bg2test declared_in: - openapi/hm-land-registry-estimate-completion-date-openapi.yml - openapi/hm-land-registry-official-search-of-whole-with-data-openapi.yml - openapi/hm-land-registry-registered-proprietor-names-openapi.json - openapi/hm-land-registry-submit-application-to-change-the-register-v1.0-openapi.json - openapi/hm-land-registry-submit-application-to-change-the-register-v0.3-openapi.json - openapi/hm-land-registry-official-copy-document-availability-v1-customer-test-openapi.json - openapi/hm-land-registry-official-copy-document-availability-v2-customer-test-openapi.json note: >- Two dedicated customer-test OpenAPI contracts are published in the developer pack alongside the production ones (OpenAPI-CustTest.json for Official Copy Document Availability v1 and v2); both are harvested into openapi/ in this repo. - name: Production host: https://businessgateway.landregistry.gov.uk base_paths: - /bg2/api - /bg2 probe: date: '2026-07-26' result: >- Neither businessgateway.landregistry.gov.uk nor bgtest.landregistry.gov.uk completes a TLS handshake anonymously; both require an HMLR-issued client certificate for mutual TLS. access: how_to_get_it: - >- Sign the development licence, requested by emailing channelpartners@landregistry.gov.uk. Where IT development is outsourced, the other party signs the licence. - >- HMLR sends a test SSL certificate to the named technical contact, which gives connectivity and access to the test environment. - >- The integration support team then provides technical and onboarding support through the build. - >- Going live requires contacting HMLR and holding a business e-services account in place first. docs: https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/how-to-access-business-gateway contact: channelpartners@landregistry.gov.uk test_stubs: published: true base_url: https://bgtest.landregistry.gov.uk/bg2test/api auth_note: >- Against the stubs, Authorization accepts any value and Idempotency-Key accepts any value; HMLR notes explicitly that idempotency-key uniqueness "is not enforced by the stubs". scenarios: - name: 'Scenario 1: Submit a single charge' method: POST endpoint: /v1/applications response_status: 202 docs: https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/apis/submit-an-application/1.0/test-stubs - name: 'Scenario 2: Submit a single transfer' method: POST endpoint: /v1/applications response_status: 202 docs: https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/apis/submit-an-application/1.0/test-stubs - name: 'Scenario 3: Submit an application with Level 1 validation errors' method: POST endpoint: /v1/applications docs: https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/apis/submit-an-application/1.0/test-stubs - name: 'Scenario 4: Submit an application with Level 2 validation errors' method: POST endpoint: /v1/applications docs: https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/apis/submit-an-application/1.0/test-stubs also_published_for: - apis/notifications/1.0/test-stubs - apis/application-information/1.0/test-stubs - apis/attach-a-document/1.0/test-stubs - apis/attach-a-message/1.0/test-stubs - apis/download-a-document/1.0/test-stubs - apis/send-a-document/1.0/test-stubs index: https://landregistry.github.io/bg-dev-pack-redesign/find-a-service-api published_test_values: note: >- Values taken verbatim from HM Land Registry's published test stubs. Nothing here was invented. title_numbers: - MS305610 document_ids: - a40d6fe0-bd45-4c49-b72a-0d80cf43db83 application_request_ids: - b3ac19be-2b6d-4b8a-971c-e758b0e8e790 notification_ids: - 7788bfb3-02f2-4c9b-be58-94e9df010ac8 - 3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6 - 13fd86a1-ca5d-48c5-9a3a-201f98b80a70 application_subject_ids: - 3d4b51cf-76ab-40ad-9b09-099323034adf mortgage_deed_references: - MD006A hmlr_references: - A123ABR lodger_email: - valid.email@landregistry.gov.uk addresses: - uprn: 100040203976 full_address: Apartment 11, 113 Newton Street, MANCHESTER, M1 1AE organisations: - Albion Home Loans Limited (company_number 12345) parties: - Tony Bonito - Toni Bonito - John Smith fees_in_pence: - 3000 time_simulation: supported: false detail: No test clock, time-travel or event-trigger tooling is published. fixture_tooling: supported: false detail: >- No CLI, no fixture generator and no event-trigger tool. HMLR ships static example request and response bodies in the developer pack instead. open_data_alternative: detail: >- The one HMLR surface that needs no sandbox at all is the open linked-data estate. The SPARQL 1.1 endpoint at https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/landregistry/query and the Price Paid and UK House Price Index Linked Data APIs under https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/data/ are anonymous and unmetered under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and the Qonsole query console at http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/qonsole is a live in-browser playground. For anyone prototyping against HMLR data rather than against the conveyancing transaction rails, that is the effective sandbox. console: http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/qonsole verified: '2026-07-26' use_land_and_property_data: sandbox: false detail: >- No test mode and no test key. The service does publish free sample datasets (nps_sample, the National Polygon Service Sample, and per-dataset public_resources "Example Data" files) which serve as the shape-check before signing a chargeable licence.