Property: study calls for local authorities to give data for home information packs

An Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report called on local authorities to make search information more readily available to property search companies (PSCs) this week - but solicitors warned that using PSCs could lead to problems over liability and insurance.


The OFT study was launched in December 2004 following complaints about the availability of property information and competition issues within the market. It found that some local authorities were restricting access to information needed for property searches, and in some cases consumers were 'paying too much'.


It recommended that local authorities be required to give access to all the information needed for home information packs (HIPs) before their introduction in 2007, so that competition from the private sector in conducting property searches is not eliminated. It said central government should provide clear guidance on how local authorities should set prices.


The report also recommended that the electronic provision of property searches should be liberalised - it is currently provided by a single electronic source, the National Land Information Service (NLIS).


Denis Cameron, member of the Law Society's HIP taskforce, said: 'It is up to individual solicitors to decide the risk for themselves, but there can be problems with liability and indemnity cover with PSCs. Most PSCs suggest that liability is only to the person who requisitioned the search. But they need to be responsible to any buyer, potential buyer and lender.


'If something is wrong with a search, it is probably not going to be spotted until the resale, many years down the line. The local authority will still be around in ten years' time, but where will PSCs be in ten years?'


He went on to add: 'But local authorities are charging too much for their local searches, with some charging £250. When HIPs become compulsory, no one will pay that sort of money when private search companies will do it for much less. HIPs could end up with inferior products in them.'