What are the 3 main searches when buying a house?

Usually, there are three main searches for house buying which a mortgage lender will require you to get. Local Authority Searches The Local Authority Search is perhaps the most important out of all property searches. This search reveals, for example, if there's going to be any major development on your doorstep after you've moved in. A large development might seriously devalue your property, and cause visual, aural and other pollution and general disruption. This search is particularly important for finding out whether any works on your property have been carried out legally. It lists planning permissions and building control/building regulations documents lodged with the local authorities and administration regarding any such works. It's here that you'd find records of, e.g. an electrical rewire or installation of a boiler. Additionally, suppose the property has been extended or altered and the alterations require the attention of the council because of planning issues and building matters. In that case, the correct records should be available. If they are not, a whole host of issues might arise ranging from the need to get expensive retrospective sign-off on works or to buy indemnity policies. You might find after further investigation using a structural engineer who works is dangerous. Other matters include whether the property is in an area where there are restrictions on development or on cutting trees down which you might have wished to do. Your enjoyment of a property might be seriously affected as a result of the findings. Where lenders are concerned, without there being a local search conveyancing invariably cannot proceed. Water and Drainage Searches The drainage and water search is the next most important search because of the fundamental importance of being able to access clean water for drinking, washing, sanitation etc., and the drainage that is required to accompany it (and to cope with storms and flooding) as well as connections to sewage removal pipes. This search asks many essential questions and you can even find out if there's likely to be an issue with low water pressure in the local area. This latter consideration is far more important than it seems: having to shower with limited water pressure and to wait ages for baths to fill for the same reason would be particularly galling to consider for a prospective homeowner and might be issues which can't easily be remedied. Environmental Searches The environmental search flags up a variety of potential hazards, including the possibility of various types of flooding, the likelihood of ground instability which increases the risk of subsidence - this might arise for example because of historic mining activity - and the likelihood of contaminated land arising from a variety of industrial reasons, which could be a hazard to your health. Other matters include whether there are plans to allow solar and/or wind farms or for mineral exploration to be built or take place: these can seriously affect your enjoyment of a property and cause various forms of disturbance or pollution. You also get an opinion on how likely it is that your home is built on land where radon emits from. This naturally-occurring gas causes lung cancer when in higher-than-normal concentrations and kills more people annually in the UK than drink-driving. These then are the most important searches in order of importance. Depending on other local considerations, your lender might also insist on additional mandatory searches being bought, for example, a coal mining search if the property you're thinking of buying is in an area known for such mining activity in previous or present times and which might have issues such as ground stability therefore.

Why are you sometimes advised to buy additional searches when buying a house?

As a mortgage buyer, you'll already have had to buy several searches when buying a house but you may find that you're advised to get one or more extra searches. This advice might come from your lender, your solicitor or from the search company itself. The lender might go further and make any lending conditional on your compulsorily buying the extra search/es. This is usually caused by conditions commonly known to affect the land area in which the property is located. Radon gas, for example, is known to be in higher concentrations in West Country locations. Previous brine mining works are primarily to be found in and around the county of Cheshire. Depending on the hazard involved and the results of any further investigation, you may well be able to get indemnity insurance to cover you against any adverse events. However, this must be considered on a case-by-case basis and your conveyancing solicitor can advise you further.

Are searches included in solicitor fees?

No, you will pay for your searches separately. They vary in cost, depending on how many you're expected to get and which search company your conveyancing solicitor uses.

How long do conveyancing searches take?

We can deliver you most searches within 2 hours. This is only applicable if we can download a Title Plan from the Land Registry. The following searches take longer: Commons Registration Search - The estimated time turnover for this search is 24 hours. Drainage and Water Search - The estimated time turnover for this search is 10-14 days. Regulated Local Authority Search - The estimated time turnover for this search is between 1-8 hours, depending on each local authority.

Can you fast-track conveyancing searches?

Most of our property searches have a fast turnaround time. If the property is registered at the Land Registry and we can download a title plan, you will be able to get most of your reports in 2 working hours. In most cases, buyers encounter difficulties with Local Authority Searches, which can take up to 8 weeks. A solution to this is to check if your local authority offers the option to fast-track property searches. This will cost you an extra fee, but it will speed up your property searches.

Are you worried that a property you're interested in could be affected by hidden problems in the neighbourhood? Property searches can give you all the information you need about the local area.

Lenders require the main searches before granting you a mortgage, but they can be useful for cash buyers too.

Conveyancing Searches

by:

Andrew Boast

Created on:

18/05/2022

(Last Updated: 17/05/2024)

Read by:

985

14 min read

Key Takeaways

Searches are short and detailed reports about matters which could affect the land the property you're interested in is built on and/or the surrounding area.
Top Tip: In most cases, buyers encounter difficulties with the Local Authority Search, which can take up to 8 weeks. A solution to this is to check if your local authority offers the option to fast-track property searches.
Sometimes, for certain areas, lenders might expect you to buy additional searches as a condition of lending.
Providing you are happy with the results of the searches, you can move on to exchanging the contracts and this process usually takes around 1-3 weeks.

Conveyancing searches when buying a house form an integral part of the process and should be seen as a 'must have' and not a 'do I need?'.

The water/environmental companies and local councils store information that your seller won't know, so obtaining searches when buying a house could bring light to potential issues that neither you, the seller, nor their conveyancing solicitors would know.

The average time to exchange is 3 weeks from the point that property searches are back, but beware that solicitors work in different ways.

In this article

Do Cash Buyers need property searches?

Mortgage lenders won't lend their money without evidence that certain properties and searches have been obtained, so why would you want to risk your own money by buying without property searches?

Our advice would be to always get conveyancing searches when buying a house, even if you are buying without a mortgage.

All too often, there are restrictions or notes on the local authority register that affect your property/land, which could cause you a problem if you try to sell later on. If your buyer's searches find issues you missed, that might mean you can't sell the property at full market value.

What searches are done when buying a house?

These are the main property searches. There are additional searches you can order when buying a house, which we set out further down the article.

The land on which your property is built retains a potential liability that you have to contribute to the cost of repairs to the chancel of a parish church. This medieval anomaly affects thousands of properties across England and Wales. Whilst the liability may not be recorded in the title to the property, it may still be binding on the current owner.

As the liability relates to former rectorial land which often stretches for many miles, it can affect old or new properties, urban or rural, and the potential costs can run into thousands of pounds.

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The Regulated Drainage and Water Search identifies if a property is connected to the mains water supply, the location of public water drains, whether there are any public drains or sewers within the boundaries of the property or in the near vicinity, and if any sewers or proposed sewers are adopted.

It also indicates whether foul water and surface water drain from the property to a public sewer and the basis of charging for sewerage and water supply.

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The Environmental Search Report identifies past and present industrial land use, which may indicate the potential for the land to be classified as contaminated.

Suppose the local authority has registered the land as ‘contaminated’. In that case, it can pass the liability and costs for cleaning it up to you as the legal owner or occupier if it cannot find the person responsible for originally contaminating it.

Clean-up costs often exceed the value of the property and/or land. Most environment reports also contain information about nearby industrial processes or installations such as landfill sites or waste management sites, as well as pollution incidents.

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Most commonly known as the Local Authority Search, this search is mainly restricted to the property/land of the title you are buying and identifies any issues that might adversely affect it.

This includes information about planning consents, highways information and road adoption agreements, and any notices and/or restrictions affecting the property if, for example, it is within a conservation area, smoke control area or if there are any tree preservation orders.

This search does not identify issues beyond the boundary of the property.

Download Example

Conveyancing Search Pack

The searches above are likely to satisfy the requirements of all lenders unless you have to purchase any other conveyancing searches (on a case-by-case basis) or your lender requires you to get an Official Local Authority Search.

How much do conveyancing searches cost?

We offer a conveyancing search pack for £295 INC VAT. We can also provide you with any extra local searches you may need.

Order Additional Searches

Additional searches when buying a house

Coal Mining Search

Certain parts of the UK are at risk of hazards caused by mining activity, which has the potential to cause subsidence. If you are buying property or land in Cornwall, for example, your mortgage lender will usually require a Coal Mining Search.

This will identify current, planned, or historic underground workings, and may indicate if any previous claims have been made for subsidence.

Two dumptrucks carrying coal in a quarry. SAM Conveyancing searches include an environmental search, a planning search, and land registry search.

Flood Risk Report

A property does not have to be near a river or sea to be at risk of flooding.

The Environment Agency estimates that over 500,000 properties are at ‘significant risk' of flooding. They suggest that 1.4 million properties are at risk of river (fluvial) or coastal (tidal) flooding, with 2.8m at risk of surface water (pluvial) flooding. From the search results, 1 million properties are at risk of both types of flooding.

As well as identifying traditional flood risks and whether the property benefits from flood defences, a flood search report may identify if the property is at risk of groundwater flooding from rainwater, one of the main causes of the 2013/2014 floods.

A flood search report can also indicate the insurability of a property which may be a mortgage requirement.

Planning Report

A Planning Report goes beyond the scope of a Local Authority Search by providing information about the surrounding area, more detailed information regarding the current and prior planning history of the property, and information about land use policies.

This report provides a professional opinion about the development potential of the property and identifies any areas or sites nearby that may be of potential future interest to a developer, but where planning has not yet been submitted.

These sites may include neighbouring properties and land. The professional opinion also considers the risk of change taking place, search costs, and whether you should undertake any further conveyancing searches which may reveal covenant control on adjoining land.

Energy and Infrastructure Report

An Energy and Infrastructure Report highlights if your property is located near sites likely to be affected by HS2, areas for fracking, wind farms, solar farms or wind turbines, and Crossrail.

Subsidence Report

This report confirms if your property is in an area affected by subsidence due to soil shrinkage. This is an optional report which you can choose not to get if you are happy to proceed without it.

Commons Registration Search

The Commons Search reveals if any part of your property is registered as common land. If so, that part will be subject to public access. If the entire land your property is sitting on is considered common land, the council may order its removal.

Radon Search

If your property is located in a radon-affected area, it is recommended to get this additional report. Radon is a radioactive gas which could make you ill. The report will provide recommendations in case your property is affected.

A collection of dead fish, and bottles in some grimy river water. Use SAM Conveyancing searches today and save on your searches cost

How long after searches do you complete?

This depends on whether or not the conveyancing searches reveal any potential risks. If that is the case, you can try to renegotiate the price with the seller.

If, however, you are satisfied with the search results, you can move on to exchange contracts. You can expect this to be done within 1-3 weeks after getting your conveyancing searches back. Our team will help you throughout the entire process.

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What do house searches reveal?

These searches are short and detailed reports about matters which could affect the land the property you're interested in is built on and/or the surrounding area. There are four core conveyancing searches which most lenders insist on if you're trying to buy a property with a mortgage.

They each address a particular subject area and they flag any potential risks regarding the property or the land it's built on. These either need further investigation or reveal something devastating, which might make the house either:

be too expensive, at some point in the future, to carry on living in
be unpleasant to live in
become a hazard to your health

Sometimes, for certain areas, lenders might expect you to buy more location-specific searches as a condition of lending.

Usually, there are 3 responses which occur once your solicitor has looked through them and possibly passed further enquiries across to the seller to find out any additional information.

They'll either broadly conclude that no significant issue or threat has been highlighted and that you can go ahead, or that you should negotiate with the seller, either for a lowering in the selling price or for them to contribute to some works on the property.

Lastly, your solicitor might even strongly advise that you pull out of the purchase entirely.

For example:

Local Authority Search

This search might flag that your property's loft conversion was built without appropriate planning permission or building control sign-off. This might mean it is dangerous and that the property should have been sold as having one less bedroom.

It might mean that you can bargain with the seller to pay for retrospective building control sign-off on the works or perhaps to pay for an indemnity against the local authority fining you if they discover the anomaly.

Then again, further enquiries might uncover that the works were sub-standard and hazardous, which will make any purchase to be regarded as too risky.

Water and Drainage Search

A drainage and water search might uncover that your property is not correctly attached to the local water company's sewage network. This equally might entail expensive work being carried out which would need to be paid for.

Environmental Search

An environmental report might flag that the property has been built in an area prone to surface water and/or river flooding. At the very least this might mean building insurance is very expensive or impossible to get.

Chancel Search

A chancel search might flag that you have a potential liability to pay for repairs and upkeep of your local church. That opens up the possibility that in future, you might face a demand for as much as £10,000 to help repair and maintain your parish church roof. It would be advisable to pay for an indemnity policy to cover against this chance.

For the first three cases above, the report concerned could flag many other such possible hazards or detracting factors, which are invaluable to know about and that your solicitor can look into further.

The fact that lenders place so much importance on getting these searches is revealing in itself: any large lending organisation is likely to 'hedge its bets' as much as possible where risk is concerned.

However, if you were a cash buyer, you would have a choice in the matter and might opt to save yourself a few hundred pounds.

If you are in this position, an additional - and very strong - argument to consider is that even though you have the option to press ahead without getting any searches, you need to think over what might happen if you choose to sell up in the future.

If you were selling to a cash buyer, they might, like you, opt not to get conveyancing searches. However, if you're hoping to be able to sell to anyone buying using a mortgage, that person will have to get conveyancing searches because of lender requirements.

If these searches reveal any major issues, the lender might refuse to grant the necessary mortgage; if this is the case, then all lenders are likely to do so.

You might then find out that you're either facing a ruinously high cost to rectify the faults before you can sell up or, in the worst-case scenario, that your property is simply unsellable.

Cartoon image of a magnifying glass overviewing a map. SAM Conveyancing can help with your conveyancing searches: a chancel repair search, planning search, or even mining searches.

Order Your Searches

Commons Registration

Drainage and Water

Highway Search

Planning Report

Local Authority

Energy & Infrastructure

Climate Risk Report

Conveyancing Searches Example: Climate Report

Environmental Appraisal

Environmental Report

Flood Appraisal

Flood Risk

Coal Mining

Subsidence

Chancel

Radon

Chancel Search

Drainage&Water

Climate Risk Report

Environmental Report

Regulated Local Authority

£295 INC VAT

Frequently Asked Questions

MAIN

ADDITIONAL

FEES

HOW-LONG

FAST

*This only applies to properties currently registered at the Land Registry with a downloadable title plan. If we cannot download a title plan we will inform you and refund the cost of the Report in full.

**You can cancel your search and get a full refund if the report has not yet been ordered. You cannot cancel and get a refund of any of the money if the search is ordered and/or if the report has been sent to you. Most of our reports are delivered within 2 working hours, which means if you do want to cancel, please get in contact as soon as possible.

Written by: Andrew Boast

Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands-on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.

Reviewed by: Caragh Bailey

Caragh is an excellent writer in her own right as well as an accomplished copy editor for both fiction and non-fiction books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey and mortgage related articles.