Money News
Thousands of homebuyers are waiting up to 120% longer than a year ago - as much as 24 days more - for essential information relating to the purchase of their property. So says property data company, OneSearch Direct, which compiled the information from local authorities.
Continued inefficiency and anti-competitive behaviour at some local councils means that the length of time you wait for vital property search documents relates directly to your postcode. This could be a serious and costly issue if you're buying a home in the West London Borough of Hillingdon, where it takes an average of 44 days to return such search data - a huge increase on last year's average of 20 days for homebuyers to receive important information from this council.
OneSearch Direct's findings have been mirrored by other leading industry experts. Ted Beardsall's Local Property Searches and Leasehold Information report, published this month, detailed how some councils were being unnecessarily restrictive, and in some instances even deliberately obstructive, towards private search companies.
One example of this would be Copeland Borough Council which, despite allowing an unrestricted number of searches, will only allow them to be completed between 10am and 12pm on Fridays. Given that the most pressing concern for nearly half of all homebuyers is the length of the home buying process, this is clearly cause for concern, especially since there is a real need for stimulation in the current property market.
However, some local authorities are doing their bit to keep deal flow going and are leading the way in the postcode lottery. Crawley Borough Council tops the efficiency league with an average of just 2.25 days to return search data.
Ronnie Park, Managing Director at OneSearch Direct, comments: "It's ludicrous that there continue to be vast differences in the efficiency and competency of local authorities across the country. With the market slowing down, it's more crucial than ever that we ensure best practice regardless of postcode or there could be serious timing, cost and liability implications for consumers."
Average time for a completed search (as at June 20th).
Five fastest councils (days taken) were: Crawley Borough Council 2.25, Christchurch Borough Council 2.33, South Staffordshire District Council 2.33, Oldham M. Borough Council 2.38 and Peterborough City Council 2.42.
The five slowest councils were: London Borough of Hillingdon 44.28, Halton Borough Council 31.50, Welwyn Hatfield Council 29.69, West Lindsey District Council 27.00 and Hastings Borough Council 20.62.
25 June 2008 © Moneyextra.com
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