ACTION ON LAND SEARCH DELAYS.
Shropshire Four Times Longer than Most Councils

Charlotte Barnes, Shropshire Councillor for Bishops Castle, has secured a commitment from
the Council’s Land Registry* to speed up its land search service after complaints from local solicitors and house buyers.

Charlotte said “A local search is a requirement for most house purchases and vital if a mortgage is involved. The local housing market is very vibrant at present and naturally buyers are wanting speedy completions to make sure they do not lose properties they have set their hearts on. Solicitors can turn around conveyancing in about a month and in most local authorities a land search takes around 5 days, sometimes less**. However, this is not the case in Shropshire – one local solicitor told me that searches were taking 6-8 weeks to return. This of course causes considerable delay and distress.

“I asked the Council why this backlog has occurred and what action is being taken to remedy the situation. They confirmed that they were currently running a turnaround of 28 days instead of the target 10 day but they confirmed additional staff have now been allocation to this task which should address the problem.

“With the economy at last picking up it is critical that we speed this process up. People buying new properties almost invariably spend money with local shops and tradesmen upgrading their new home pumping even more cash into the local economy. I am glad to hear that the Council is taking steps to address this issue. My fear however is that too many people may have taken voluntary redundancy from this department leaving insufficient to do the work.”

 

* Part of the Council’s Planning Department.
** For example a recent search in Cheshire by a local solicitor was submitted on 7th July and returned on 11th

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