Hip view (Home Information Packs and Energy Performance Certificates EPC

In 2009 allegations were made of malpractice within the Personal Search Industry. The allegations were mainly made by opponents of the industry and were that the reports prepared by Personal Search Companies were inferior in quality to council searches and more widespread concern that certain firms were knowingly not buying all the required data or failing to access legitimate sources of information. In October, November and December 2009 the PCCB (Property Codes Compliance Board) carried out thorough investigations of its Code Subscribers with regards to these allegations.

Frank Finch of the PCCB today made the following statement:

‘In summary, the enquiry found no evidence to support the allegation of widespread non-compliance. Rather it confirmed that the searches sampled were substantially compliant with the relevant regulations and with the Search Code.’

A total of 58 searches, comprising 900 questions were scrutinised, with errors being found in just 3% of answers and none of these related to the substantive allegations that data was either missing or inappropriate data was being used.

Finch went on to comment on the errors by saying that they

‘Appear to result from a lack of diligence rather than deliberate attempts to short-circuit the provisions in the Code. This is borne out by the fact that these failings featured in searches conducted by both personal search firms and local authorities in roughly equal measure.’

In fact, over half of all errors or omissions identified in the exercise related to local authority reports.

This goes to prove that Council Searches are no more reliable than those provided by firms who subscribe to the Search Code.

Since the new regulations came into effect on 6th April 2009 making it compulsory for Local Authorities to give access to property information, there has been a vast spectrum of systems and charges created by Local Authorities to cope. The procedures set out by councils enabling people to gain access to the information range from the very simple, e.g. turn up at a building, sit at a computer, record the information and leave, to the most complicated systems imaginable. Likewise the charges also differ massively ranging from, free to over three hundred pounds.

In many cases the job of accessing this information has now become almost impossible and we have created this post to enable you to leave comments on your findings with specific Local Authorities either good or bad. Please click the button below to either view comments left by others or post a new one. It will help if you name the council, but please be certain that your statement is correct.

Environmental Information Officer
X Council

Date:
Our Ref: SD
Your ref:

Dear

The Local Authorities (England) (Charges for Property Searches) Regulations 2008 (Charges Regulations) and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). The Charges Regulations passed through parliament on 17th December 2008 and give Local Authorities the power to charge for certain property information. The Charges Regulations do not apply to “Free Statutory Information”. The Local Authority is specifically forbidden to charge for access to this information, this includes Environmental Information (EI). The Local Authority is obliged to provide access to EI free of charge at the place where such information is normally made available by the authority. This is the effect of regulations 5 and 8 of the EIR. It has come to our attention that some Local Authorities are calculating charges under the Charges Regulations with the intention of applying these charges for access to all property search information. Unchallenged expert legal opinion has confirmed that most, possibly all, property search information is EI. The definition of EI under the EIR is extremely wide ranging and to assist data holders the Information Commissioners Office have produced a helpful document entitled ‘What is Environmental Information’. I have enclosed a copy with this letter to assist you. Please be aware that any charges for EI unlawfully imposed under the Charges Regs and subsequently paid by current or future IPSA members will be reclaimed in full with interest at some future date.

I would respectfully point out that it is within your remit to ensure that the Local Authority act within the EC directive and the provisions of the EIR and I therefore request that you contact the person responsible for implementing any charges under the Charges Regulations (usually, but not always, the Local Land Charges officer) and ensure that they only apply the charges to information which is clearly not EI.

This will ensure compliance with the EIR and avoid complaints under the EIR which could be both time consuming and expensive for the LA to defend.

Yours faithfully
S C Davies
Chief Executive IPSA

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO), yesterday criticised the Government plans giving councils new powers to charge for providing public information on properties.

The regulations that allow local authorities to charge for information relating to properties were debated in Parliament this week. The Government however has neglected to publish the accompanying guidance that advises councils how to use their new powers. The Government has said it will only do so once the regulations come into force. This means that, property search companies will be left completely blind as to what new charges they will face from local authorities once the regulations come into force.CoPSO’s Chief Executive Mervyn Pilley said:
“The lack of guidance means that we can’t even begin to understand what these regulations will mean for our industry. What councils can do and what councils will do are two very different things. That is why we have guidance in the first place. The whole approach is ill thought through to say the least.

“All we do know is that the Government’s whole approach to the twin issues of charging and access has been unrealistic to say the least. We have the charging, but nothing has been done to guarantee access. These latest changes will do nothing to ensure that property search companies are able to offer their customers the best product possible, whilst expecting them to pay for information that is held in their name in the first place.

“It’s bad enough that we have to deal with a complete lack of reality about the way councils behave; at the very least you would hope that the Government would give us a chance to prepare for the changes. How is that possible when we have no idea whatsoever of how they will be implemented and what councils will charge?”

As Home Information Packs (Hips) have now been around for over 18 months and in the current market climate properties are not selling as quickly as they have done, situations are arising where buyers solicitors are not relying on searches in the Hips as they feel they are ‘out of date’.

Pali have options available to you if you have this problem with a Hip we have produced. For example we can supply an insurance policy for £21.00 which extends the life of the searches indefinitely.

Please feel fre contact you local Pali office and discuss the options regarding refreshing out of date searches.