Plans announced to speed up property search times

The government has published measures which they hope will deliver faster and cheaper property searches.

Junior housing minister Iain Wright announced the plans, which are part of government’s drive to improve the home buying process.

The plans mean that local authorities will now have to give private search companies access to their housing data within one working day. They will be able to recoup the costs by setting an access charge.

According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, property searches can take anything from a few hours to a fortnight. Charges can range from £40 to £280.

They also said that, at present, private search companies cannot access council data. This can slow down property searches and means they must take out insurance cover to compensate for the lack of data.

The DCLG also claimed that the introduction of Home Information Packs had already lowered the average cost of property searches, as they have created new competition within the industry.

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