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News: Anger over housing search lottery

Wed, 04 Jul 07

Thousands of home buyers in England are having house purchases delayed as they wait up to three weeks for essential information for their purchase, while others receive the same data in a few days...

A new league table, compiled by market leading property data company OneSearch Direct, highlights a postcode lottery in councils’ provision of local searches – a vital part of the home buying process.  Bottom of the league is the West London Borough of Hillingdon, taking an average of 20 days to return search information.  Providing exemplary service at the top of the league is South Ribble Borough Council, averaging just 2.5 days.

Searches on the Land Charges register, for example, provide critical information on any restrictions or obligations on the property, which in turn are enforceable against successive owners. The speed at which this type of information can be returned depends on the efficiency of each local authority or their co-operation with personal search firms, which varies significantly from region to region.

Table 1: Average time for a completed search – between 14.04.07-14.06.07

Five fastest councils

Days taken

Five slowest councils

Days taken

South Ribble Borough Council

Adur District Council

Leeds City Council

Woking Borough Council

Crawley Borough Council

2.50

2.77

2.83

2.92

2.94

London Borough of Waltham Forest

Sedgemoor District Council

Thanet District Council

Taunton Deane Borough Council

London Borough of Hillingdon

17

17.03

17.13

18.50

20.00

The majority of the worst offenders are in the South East of England, where the housing market is most competitive and speed is of the essence. Fifty two per cent of local authorities taking 10 days or more are located in London and the South East, including three of the slowest five on the league table of 350 councils.

Quality service ‘long overdue’

Ronnie Park, Managing Director at Onesearch Direct, comments: “There are vast differences in the efficiency of local authorities across the country.

A standard to ensure a consistent, quality service is long overdue. These issues have serious implications for buyers when there is real pressure on the housing market and supply.”

The postcode lottery applies not only to turnaround times, but to price too. Most local authorities charge a standard, reasonable £6 fee for the search.  However, others such as Eastleigh Borough Council in Hampshire charge up to £40 for the same information.

Buyers ‘should be concerned’

Ronnie Park adds: “Buyers should also be concerned about the quality of information in their search. We’re aware of instances where buyers have inherited expensive renovation grants, which, had they been spotted, would have empowered the prospective buyer to negotiate on price.

“We go to considerable lengths to ensure the quality of information we collect and store in our database and also have teams on the ground consistently sourcing information for prospective buyers. 

“But more effective co-operation between public data holders and private sector search suppliers is essential to empower consumers to make quicker, smoother purchases.  It’s time for reform.” 

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