A major part, and an important part, of conveyancing is the conducting of local authority searches. These searches will usually attract a charge made by the local authority, which will in turn be included as one of the disbursements levied by your conveyancing solicitor or conveyancer. A local search conducted for conveyancing processes is a very specific search and for a little extra financial outlay it is possible to get a more thorough and informative search conducted.

Local authorities all hold details of planned projects and developments for their region. A standard local authority search will turn up details of any proposed development that falls within the boundary of a specific property. It doesn’t list developments that are due to begin anywhere outside those boundaries no matter their proximity.

A separate planning search enables the buyer of a property to determine whether any developments are scheduled on neighbouring and nearby properties. Obviously, these can have a major impact on a property and for the £20 or so extra it can save some real heartache in the long run. This local search will not be included in the conveyancing service or fee, however, and you should request it separately from your conveyancer.

Local searches range in cost from authority to authority and need to be a part of the conveyancing process. You should ensure that the cost is included as part of the list of disbursements that came with your conveyancing quote to ensure that you know exactly what you are paying for and to ensure that you aren’t hit with a surprise charge at the end of the process.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm and is filed under About Conveyancing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.