Homebuyers search fee to be abolished
Fixed £22 fee is charged for a search of a council's land charges register, but government advice is that it should be free
A £22 fee homebuyers must pay to find out about issues or restrictions that may affect a property is being abolished, the government has announced.
The fixed fee is charged for a personal search of a council's local land charges register, but it is a cost homebuyers should no longer have to face, the communities and local government department said.
The land searches tell people about potential issues affecting the property – for example, if the house is in a conservation area and it would make getting permission for an extension difficult, or if there is a protected tree that cannot be cut down.
Until now, legislation stated that a £22 fixed fee should be charged for this information when an individual inspects the records in person. But the law is now being changed to stop people being charged in order to ensure compliance with European regulations relating to "environmental information". These state that checking this type of information in person should be free of charge.
A spokeswoman for the department said that while the law had not yet been amended, its advice to local authorities was that "this should be free from now". She said there were 736,000 property transactions in England last year, and if this charge had not been in place homebuyers could have saved as much as £16.2m.
The coalition government has already suspended "costly and bureaucratic" home information packs, and this move will further help reduce costs for homebuyers, it said.
Housing minister, Grant Shapps, said: "This shows in practice how freeing up public sector data and opening up the books can benefit the whole economy by cutting transaction costs and increasing competition."
The government is liaising with councils and the Local Government Association to provide guidance on the changes, and dealing with the financial impact of removing the fee on local authority finances.
Rupert Jones, The Guardian 30-07-2010
Consort Estate