Busy conveyancers are increasingly finding that Councils are taking longer to return the results of local authority searches. Conveyancers and their clients are waiting on average about 10 days, but there have been reports of delays up to 50 days and in the case of one particular Council, up to 90 days.
Mark Davies, Head of Underwriting at leading title insurance company Stewart Title Limited said:
“We were recently contacted by a law firm that submitted a local authority search in early November for a refinancing of a landmark building in London scheduled to complete by the end of December. Unfortunately, the local authority estimated that the search wouldn’t be processed and returned before the end of February 2020.”
These delays to property sales and the inevitable failure of chains can be avoided by ordering a No Search Policy or where the result of a written search is still awaited, a Search Delay Policy. Stewart Title can provide these policies and cover starts from £39.20 for an average priced UK property (around £233,000 according to landregistry.data.gov.uk).
Mark explained:
“Cover can be put in place in three easy steps when using our Stewart Online Solution site, which also provides access to cover for 150 other risks. You can also contact our Telephone Solution Team on 02070107821 or email at solution@stewart.com.”
This article was submitted to be published Stewart Title as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
