With some house sales taking a staggering eight months to complete, delays in the search system often get the blame – but it doesn’t have to be like that.

Research from Zoopla says it now takes between 17 and 34 weeks to complete a house sale in the UK. Many conveyancing lawyers quote two to three weeks for straightforward searches to be done, but the body which represents independent search agents says using local experts can speed up the process considerably.

IPSA chairman, Andrew Prismall, said: “Searches are often cited as the reason for delays in house sales, but in truth it is more likely that your sale is just stuck in a caseload backlog somewhere.

“We know from experience that our independent agents can usually turn straightforward searches round much more quickly – and getting all the information back to the conveyancer in just a couple of hours is not unheard of!

“It really does pay for conveyancers and solicitors to look for an independent local agent to complete searches. They have better local knowledge and know the planning officials personally, so there is far less chance that their requests will be the ones left at the bottom of the planners’ in-tray.

“Local agents are not only quicker, they are often more thorough and accurate as they know the local issues. They are also often cheaper than the bigger firms, so it’s a win all round.”

IPSA member firms have been sharing turnaround times to highlight their successes, proving local, knowledgeable experts really get the work done in record time!

Case study 1: Staffordshire

Heather Poole-Gleed, who is IPSA’s director of membership services, owns Shropshire Property Search Ltd. She was approached by a conveyancer, who wasn’t an existing client, who needed an urgent search on a property in nearby South Staffordshire.

Heather said: “The phone call was received on a Thursday afternoon. They needed an urgent search and had been quoted four weeks by their current provider. 

“I explained that the only hold-up for this council was obtaining the building control information, which could often take two to three weeks, but that my contact at the council was sometimes willing to expedite in certain circumstances – and, obviously, as long as I didn’t say every case was urgent!

“I was able to obtain all of the required information and return the completed regulated local search to my client on the Tuesday afternoon – just three working days, rather than the four weeks they had been quoted.”

Case study 2: Hampshire

Andrew Prismall runs HW Conveyancing Searches in Hampshire. On Friday March 17 at 12.56pm, Andrew received an order from a local firm of solicitors via the website for a standard search pack, comprising a regulated local search, a drainage report and an environmental search, as well as a Chancel Check report, for a property in Basingstoke.

Most of the information requested was returned to the solicitors that day!

The environmental report was emailed at 2.19pm, the Chancel Check report at 2.20pm and the regulated local search at 2.30pm.

Andrew said: “I had to wait until the following Monday to get the drainage report from Southern Water – had it been a new build property, which doesn’t need the drainage information, they would have had the whole search pack back in just two hours and 11 minutes!

“It just goes to prove that searches don’t have to take an age to complete and there doesn’t always need to be a delay in the sale process. Using a local agent could help you get what you need quicker, cheaper and more accurately.”

For more information about IPSA, and to find an independent local search agent, visit https://ipsa-online.org.uk/