Mattthew Joy Director at Conveyancing Data Services has drawn attention to falling standards in land charge departments.
In a recent newsletter Joy said “Until recently I would not have thought that the Government’s cuts in public spending had interfered with the Search Industry in any way, however since the start of 2011 there are more and more reports of staff cuts and the reallocation of manpower within Local Government having a direct knock on to the supply of Official Local Searches.
The worst report to date being South Wiltshire having a turnaround of 50 (YES 50!!) working days as a result of their Land Charges department being reduced from 3 people down to 1. Clearly in this instance and many others, it is going to be much quicker and easier (not to mention probably cheaper) to order a personal version. If you also consider that due to the changes in the availability of ‘Environmental Information’ there should be no difference between the personal and official local search.”
How is your local land charge department doing?
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