Personal search industry in uproar

Friday 28th May 2010
The personal search industry has hit back furiously at suggestions reported on EAT this week that official local authority searches should be made compulsory in all house sales.

The proposal came from Jan Boothroyd, chief executive of Land Data, which facilitates the online availability of official local authority searches.

Richard Mathias, of the National Search Service, said the intervention of Land Data chief executive Jan Boothroyd was untimely and unwarranted. Other calls have demanded her resignation.

Mathias said: “Personal searches have been used for over 20 years, and even before HIPs were brought in, 40% of the market used them and were completely happy.

“Lawyers chose to use these searches as opposed to those supplied by a local authority as they provided a cheaper and often faster service. Recent decisions by the Information Commissioner’s office have meant local authorities must now supply search companies with all the data they require free of charge.

“We welcome these changes and we welcome the scrapping of HIPs as they were being used as a rather large stick with which to beat search companies down on price. This inevitably led to quality issues with some less scrupulous search companies providing a poor product.

“Hopefully, law firms will now use the knowledge and experience to work only with the reputable providers, and the ultimate winner will be the consumer who will receive the right search at the right time for the right price.
 
“Ms Boothroyd also seems to want to ignore OFT advice that the personal search industry provides important competition to local authorities. Perhaps she would prefer we return to the days when search prices in some areas were £200–300 and they would only be turned around in five to six weeks.”

Ronnie Park, chief executive of personal search firm OneSearch Direct, was angry about the intervention by Land Data's chief executive, whilst a personal search trade association, IPSA, also called for Boothroyd to resign.

Park, referring to the announcement of the Decentralisation and Localism Bill in the Queen’s Speech, warned against the wholesale devolution of property searches to local authorities.

Park said: “The private search industry has long provided a reliable and effective service to people buying and selling homes. Consolidating all property searches within local authorities would not only create an unhealthy and potentially illegitimate monopoly, but ultimately undermine the quality of search output.
 
“The speed, quality and cost of property searches produced by local authorities vary wildly, but the fact is, in most instances they simply take longer to produce poorer results.

“Without the competition in the market from the private sector, efficiency and accuracy in search information would be significantly impeded. With 95% of searches carried out by private search companies, I would suggest that Land Data’s position has now become untenable."
 
Also up in arms is the Association of Independent Personal Search Agents, which accused Land Data of anti-competitive behaviour.

IPSA chairman Christian Lister said: “ I would also expect Ms Boothroyd to resign for such shameful behaviour, trying to ruin a very fragile housing recovery and consumer confidence.”