Property Searches

What are ‘Searches’?

Before you are committed to purchasing the property upon the exchange of contracts, your conveyancer will conduct several property searches with various entities such as Local Authorities, Coal and Water Authorities, and other agencies.

These searches are crucial as they may uncover significant issues with the property. The sellers might not have disclosed these problems, or they may be unaware of them. This information is not recorded by the Land Registry and may not be evident from a property inspection. The searches involve multiple organizations, and the main searches will be examined in the following information

Why are Searches important?

If you identify problems after exchanging contracts to purchase a property, you cannot withdraw from the deal, even if the issues prevent you from securing a mortgage. The property's value may be significantly lower than your offer, and it might be uninhabitable or unusable according to the law. No compensation will be owed by the seller for any problems found later.

Should you spot a problem before exchanging contracts, there are several ways to address the findings:

• Your conveyancer can inquire further to assess the severity of the issue and potential resolutions.

• You could negotiate a lower price or obtain insurance.

• You might require the seller to rectify the issue by acquiring any necessary approvals or consents.

• A surveyor or builder could be consulted to evaluate the seriousness of the problem, particularly if safety is concerned.

• You or your lender may deem the property unsuitable and opt out of the deal. Remember, even if your lender is willing to proceed, it doesn't mean you should. The lender won't have to live with the property's issues or its potential devaluation—they only need to recover the mortgage amount upon sale.

  
  

What are the main property searches?

Before the exchange of contracts, the primary searches conducted are:

• The Local Authority Search.

• The Water and Drainage Search.

• The Environmental Search.

Additionally, in certain situations, your conveyancer might suggest:

• A Common Land/Town & Village Green Search.

• Mining searches, including coal, brine, tin, chalk, clay, and limestone.

• A Chancel Repairs Search.

• A Planning Search.

Your conveyancer will perform searches at the Land Registry to verify the seller's ownership and title information. The seller is also required to provide detailed responses to the standard property enquiries.

The Local Authority Search

Your conveyancer has the option to order a Council Local Search from the Local Authority or a Regulated Local Search from a private company overseen by the Property Codes Compliance Board. Both searches provide identical information, but a Regulated Local Search might be faster and less expensive, as fees and processing times vary among local authorities.

The Local Search covers numerous aspects, including:

Planning Permissions, Listed Buildings, and Building Regulations - details of any existing or forthcoming planning, building control, or listed building consents, applications, or rejections. It also includes Planning Agreements, compulsory purchase orders, or enforcement actions.

Roads - It checks whether the road is maintained at public or private expense, if there's a road adoption agreement in place, or any road proposals, traffic or railway schemes, orders, directions, or footpaths that may affect the property.

Statutory Notices - This encompasses notices related to Building works, Health and Safety, Environment, Housing, Public Health, Radon gas, and Contaminated Land.

Additionally, your conveyancer may recommend extra local search queries, such as:

• Road Proposals.

• Pipelines traversing the property.

• Houses in Multiple Occupation (‘HMOs’).

• Noise Abatement.

• Environmental Notices.

  
  

The Water and Drainage Search

It's not safe to presume that a property is connected to mains water and drainage; it's quite common for drinking water to be sourced from wells, or for wastewater to be directed to local pumping stations or septic tanks. A thorough search will verify the presence of mains water, determine if it's metered, and ascertain if the drainage connects to a public sewer. The search results will include a map detailing any drains or sewers within or adjacent to the property boundaries, which is crucial information that could impact future development plans.

Conveyancers have the option to request a standard water authority search or a Regulated Water & Drainage Report, which is compiled by a private company based on the water authority’s records.

Environmental Searches

Numerous environmental risks may impact your property, such as flooding, land contamination, fracking, wind farms, and HS2. Your conveyancer will recommend whether an environmental search is necessary.

Mining Searches

Properties in various regions may experience subsidence due to underground mining of numerous minerals such as coal, brine, tin, chalk, clay, and limestone. Compensation for subsidence damage is typically available for coal mining or brine extraction, but the burden of subsidence from other mining activities may rest on the property owner. It is advisable to conduct a thorough mining search to assess any potential risks, beyond the standard coal and brine search, as lenders may require this.

Chancel Repair Searches

Chancel Repair Liability stems from the tithe system, where land in a parish was responsible for church repairs. This liability persists, potentially impacting a third of parish churches in England and Wales, spanning nearly 4 million acres. Quick, cost-effective searches can screen for potential liabilities. Conveyancers and lenders typically advise purchasing insurance when a risk of liability is identified.

Planning Search

This will provide a detailed planning history of the property and its vicinity over the past decade. It offers a more comprehensive overview than a Local Search, which focuses solely on the property in question and its immediate surroundings.

Flood Search

The Flood Search will assess the risk from all four main types of flooding (river, coastal, groundwater and surface water). The predictive maps for ground and, the unpredictable surface water flood in particular, have been shown to be very accurate.

As always, if you have any questions about this, please give us a call.