New performance tables reveal national average turnaround for Local Authority property search is 4 days

Official Local Authority data from Land Data reveals the national average turnaround for an electronic local authority (LA) property search is 4 days and the average over the counter search fee for a combined Con29 and LLC1 is £117.

The performance tables reveal the lowest fee charged for a combined Con29R and LLC1 search in August 2008, was just £40 charged by Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. The highest was £286 charged by Barnet London Borough Council. 16 of the 410 LAs analysed charge more than £200 and 46 charge less than £90.

Turnaround times of electronic searches vary between Local Authorities, with 10 LAs delivering results in less than 1 day, 27 taking between 1 and 2 days and a further 60 taking between 2 and 3 days. The research revealed only 8 of the 410 LAs analysed take 10 days or more.

As Local Authority fees and search turnaround times can fluctuate on a month by month basis, Land Data has analysed data over a 6 month period to reveal the LAs who have consistently performed well and those that have consistently underperformed. Lewisham London Borough Council features as a top performer reducing its fee by £85 over the period. The biggest fee increase over the same period came from Surrey Heath Borough Council with an increase of 65%. Dover District Council shows an improvement of over 85% for consistently reducing its turnaround time of NLIS electronic searches, while Newcastle upon Tyne has increased its turnaround by an average of 6.5 days.

The performance tables reveal:

• The LAs which have reduced fees by the greatest amount over the period are Lewisham London Borough, Hambleton District, Bury Borough, South Gloucestershire, and Wirral Metropolitan.
• The LAs which have made greatest improvement in turnaround times are Dover District, Carmarthen County, Easington District, Vale Royal Borough, and Bridgnorth District.
• The LAs which have made the largest increase in fees are Surrey Heath Borough, Allerdale Borough, Isle of Wright, Lancaster City, and Great Yarmouth Borough.
• The LAs whose turnaround time performance has deteriorated the most are Newcastle upon Tyne, Preston Borough, North East Derbyshire District, East Northamptonshire District and West Lindsey District.
• In August 2008 the slowest return of an electronic search was North East Derbyshire District Council which took 14 days and the fastest was St Helen's Borough which took 0.19 days.

Land Data CEO Alex Fraser commented: "These figures provide evidence that while some Local Authorities are still lagging behind, many now deliver electronic searches faster than before and at a lower fee. It is encouraging to see the levels of improvement and to know that the fees are getting closer to the objective of charging on a cost recovery basis, which will ultimately be better value for money for consumers.”

The 10 Lowest Over the Counter (OTC) Search Fees(Con29R + LLC1) at 1st September '08

The 10 Fastest NLIS electronic search turnaround times in August '08

The Top 10 Local Authorities to have reduced Over The Counter Fees (Con29R + LLC1) between March and August '08

The 10 Highest Over the Counter (OTC) Search Fees at 1st September '08

The 10 Slowest NLIS electronic search turnaround response times in August '08

The 10 Local Authorities with the greatest increase in Over The Counter (Con29R + LLC1) Fees between March and August '08

The 10 Local Authorities whose NLIS electronic searches turnaround time has deteriorated the most between March and August '08

For further information please contact: Fiona Barron\Justin Scott at Land Tel: 07770 855337 / 020 3043 8875
Email:fiona.barron@land-data.org.uk /justin.scott@land-data.org.uk