What are property searches and do I need them when buying a house?

Property searches are carried out on the property that you wish to purchase by your conveyancer and are used to check things such as future planning developments or historical problems in the area that may affect the property. Searches are different to a property survey which looks at the physical condition of the property.

The location of the property will depend on what searches are required, but as a standard the majority of homes will have local authority, environmental and water & drainage searches carried out.

Local authority searches are designed to uncover any entries relating to planning, building control, highways, railway schemes, tree preservation orders, conservation areas, whether the property is listed, and so on.

Environmental searches look at flooding issues, subsidence issues, contaminated land issues, prehistoric landfill sites, prehistoric railway lines, coal mining hazards, non-coal mining hazards, energy infrastructure and so on.

Water and drainage searches check whether the property is connected to a public water supply and sewer and where the sewer and water pipes are, for example there can be pipes running through the property boundaries which would affect building works and require permissions from the water company before proceeding with any works.

Additional searches may be required on some properties, such as highways specific searches, chancel searches or where an environmental search reveals a risk, flood reports.

If you are purchasing your property with a mortgage, then searches are a legal obligation as your lender will want to check that there are not any issues with the property that could affect its value.

If you are a cash buyer, then searches are optional, but we would always recommend that searches are undertaken to give the best chance of revealing any issues before you commit hundreds of thousands of pounds to purchasing a property that you then struggle to sell later down the line.

If you require any advice on searches or if you are looking to purchase a property, please contact us on 01543 442 100 and we will be happy to assist you.

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