New guidance for property searches

Measures designed to deliver faster and cheaper property searches for homebuyers have been unveiled by the government.

The new regulations will ensure councils and private search companies work together to improve the quality and speed of providing property searches to homebuyers.

According to junior housing minister Iain Wright, local authorities should aim to provide access to their data within one working day to private search companies.

In return, they will be able to recoup their costs by setting a fair charge for improving access.

At present it can take up to two weeks for local authorities to provide the information, with costs ranging from £40 to £280.

Furthermore, private search companies are often unable to access council data so they must take out insurance cover for any gaps.

It is hoped ensuring both providers have equal access to the data will remove the need for insurance cover, but mean the provider's focus can be on giving consumers the best property search service at lowest possible cost.

"Homebuying and selling can be a stressful experience and we are committed to improving the system for people," said Mr Wright.

"By levelling the playing field for providers consumers will be able to get important property information earlier in the home buying process and see the costs coming down as a result."

The change follows advice from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to improve competition between the public and private sector in the delivery of property searches to consumers.