Some local authorities have been accused of causing major delays to the home-buying process.
Local councils are currently taking up to 42 days to return local searches on properties, new research shows.
Law firm Simpson Millar has found out which local authorities are taking the most and least time to process searches via a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request, which was completed by 228 councils.
The study revealed that the timeframe varies greatly throughout England and Wales, with Melton Borough Council in Leicestershire taking 42 working days on average to process a local land search, which is the longest delay of any local authority that replied to the FOI request.
Melton Borough Council advised that this is as a result of exceptional circumstances at present, and does not represent their normal or intended turnaround time.
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council in Greater Manchester and Chelmsford Borough Council in Essex have both been taking an average of 35 days to process and complete the searches.
This is followed by five councils who have been taking 30 days, and a further eight that have taken more than 20 days.
Local authorities with the longest Local Land Search waiting times
| Local Authority | Recent Average Searches Timeframe in Days (working) |
| Melton Borough Council (Leicestershire) | 42 |
| Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (Greater Manchester) | 35 |
| Chelmsford Borough Council (Essex) | 35 |
| London Borough of Hackney (London) | 30 |
| West Lindsey (Lincolnshire) | 30 |
| Bridgend County Borough Council (South Wales) | 30 |
| Wealden District Council (East Sussex) | 30 |
| Wiltshire Council (South West) | 30 |
| Harrogate Borough Council (North Yorkshire) | 27 |
| Torridge District Council (North Devon) | 26 |
This is compared to four local authorities that have been taking just 24 hours to turn around a land search, and a further 62 that needed five days or less.
Local authorities with shortest Local Land Search waiting times
| Local Authority | Recent Average Searches Timeframe in Days (working) |
| Dartford Borough Council (Kent) | 1 |
| Wolverhampton City Council (West Midlands) | 1 |
| Wakefield City Metropolitan District Council (West Yorkshire) | 1 |
| Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (Greater Manchester) | 1 |
| Arun District Council (West Sussex) | 2 |
| Crawley Borough Council (West Sussex) | 2 |
| Cardiff Council (Wales) | 2 |
| Spelthorne Borough Council (Surrey) | 2 |
| Elmbridge Borough Council (Surrey) | 2 |
| South Gloucestershire District Council (South West) | 2 |
Increase in demand for local searches
Growth in demand for property, supported in part by the current stamp duty holiday, has led to a rise in local authority searches, which has contributed to the delays in some areas.
Insight from the FOI request responses shows that across the country, local land searches were up 18% in August 2020 compared to August last year.
The local authority with the biggest increase in search requests was Calderdale in West Yorkshire, which saw a 365% rise. This was followed by Halton Borough Council in Cheshire which saw a 255% increase, and Newark and Sherwood District in Nottinghamshire which had a 203% increase.
| Local Authority | YoY Increase in searches (Aug 2020 versus Aug 2019) |
| Calderdale (West Yorkshire) | 365% |
| Halton Borough Council (Cheshire) | 255% |
| Newark and Sherwood District Council (Nottinghamshire) | 203% |
| Cotswold District Council (South West) | 187% |
| Blaenau Gwent County Borough (Wales) | 156% |
| Reigate and Banstead Borough Council (Surrey) | 144% |
| Sunderland City Council (Tyne and Wear) | 132% |
| Redcar and Cleveland (North East) | 118% |
| London Borough of Tower Hamlets (London) | 103% |
| Ryedale District Council (North Yorkshire) | 100% |
| North Lanarkshire Council (Scotland) | 100% |
Comments (4)
and that’s because some councils illegally preference their own provision of public data
Most councils are really good and have coped well with covid restrictions but some have stuck their head in the sand or used it as an excuse to earn extra revenue from home buyers
Always be careful what you read in statistics – There hasn’t been a 365% increase in people buying homes in Calderdale (Halifax)
All that has happened is the council has closed off access to its data base for personal search agents in an attempt to get law firms to order searches direct from the council which cost £168.20
A perfect example of council profiteering and using Covid as an excuse
…Or because they do not want dozens of search agents walking in and out of their building, handling files, computers and whatever else.
It’s also worth mentioning that some search providers are adding to the delays. In the area I cover, official searches from one local authority take just 3-5 working days; however, where an intermediary is used the searches have taken over four weeks.
Apparently, North Norfolk District Council are planning a temporary closure of the local search facility from 12th Nov until 7/8th Dec 2020 whilst the planning systems are upgraded! The wisdom of doing this now, has been questioned.