Why is the conveyancing process in Tamworth slower than elsewhere in the UK?
When purchasing a property, one of the key pieces of, and mandatory (if the purchaser is mortgaging the property), information required is what is known as a local search, which is carried out in conjunction with the local council. The local search contains information such as any local land charges, planning permissions, building regulations, road schemes and rail schemes.
For property in the Tamworth Borough Council area, part of the search is carried out by Lichfield District Council. You may ask why we are bothering to tell you this? The reason is, Lichfield has been named and shamed in the bottom 4 in the UK that “currently operate at the slowest speed, at the highest cost” providing local search information.
The Land Registry is trying to improve the speed of conveyancing, but just seven local authorities have had local land charges centralised, in a move to speed up conveyancing.
Trade body the CoPSO (Council of Property Search Organisations) has expressed its disappointment at the speed that the Land Registry’s project is moving.
CoPSO said it was “entirely supportive” of the project and the objective of digitalising data and making it available in real time. It said that this was in keeping with the Government agenda to speed up the conveyancing process, and would also facilitate the potential for using the data productively much earlier in the home buying and selling process.
CoPSCO went on to name and shame the authorities which says “currently operate at the slowest speed, at the highest cost” and where there are concerns over the quality of data.
They are: Lichfield, Derby, Cheshire East, and Camden, in London.
At the moment, the local search is carried out manually, therefore, if people in that specific department are on holiday, or there is simply not enough staff, this has an impact on the speed of the response of the search.
Source: propertyindustryeye