"The Easy Way to Get Your Best UK Mortgage" |
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Home
Buying Guide
Click for Full Contents
Guide
to Conveyancing
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About "the Search"
What it does
How long does it take?
The cost
Watch out for
Checking the area yourself
The
search is also called the Local Authority Search.
What it does
It
is supposed to protect you from any unpleasant surprises by checking up on any
plans that may affect the home you're buying, for example, that you're
not going to have an all night delivery super-depot built next door etc.
It also checks on any possible property developments which may affect you,
as well as changes to land use or public rights of way.
The Search should also warn you about any extra planning restrictions that might be in line eg your home being put into a new conservation area.
Read On for
How
long does it take?
The cost
Watch out for
Checking the area yourself
How long does it take?
The Search can take anything from a couple of days to several weeks - depending on the local authority.The
average is about two weeks.
Read On for
The cost
Watch out for
Checking the area yourself
The Cost
The a local authority search will cost you between £100 and £200 – up to £250 in London – depending on the authority involved.
Sometimes the Local Authority may not hold all the required information, such as coal or tin mining records or where the sewers are.
The conveyancer then has to search the records of the relevant utility.
Read On for
Watch out for...
Checking
the area yourself
Watch out for
How wide an area does the search cover ("What do you mean you only checked the immediate vicinity. The new hypermarket is only 100 yards away").It may be worth you checking directly with the planning authority of the local council just to make sure that everything has been picked up.
Get
a map and have a look at the surrounding area yourself.
Look for railway lines, sewage works etc.
The search will be out of date relatively soon.
If the housebuying process takes a few months there may have been new planning
proposals made in the interim. If so you should consider doing a new search.
You may also want an additional environmental search carried
out particularly in the light of the new nationwide flooding problems.
Also see Things to avoid when choosing a home
Read on for
Checking the area yourself
The internet has made available a wealth of information on all the different factors affecting each area of the UK.
A lot of this is marketing information that previously was only available to commercial companies planning their sales campaigns etc.
However now you can get a picture of the area you're thinking about living in. For example, details on schools, health, crime, social conditions, services, facilities and much more.
(If you want to us to send you a guide to the various ways you can do this click here).
An up and coming area won't necessarily be identifiable from these reports.
These can be seen by the number of trendy type shops that are setting up and doing well, the number of renovations going on (look for skips) and the flashy new company cars owned by the young salary slaves who've decided to the area is up and coming.
Once they arrive it tends to be a self fulfilling prophecy - but not always. As Martin Amis made clear, in his classic, Money, "slums bite back".
To read more on this subject please see the list below or your mortgage guide or your home buying guide
Read enough? Just want a quote? To get your best mortgage quote quickly and easily we can put you in contact with a recommended mortgage adviser. It's free, completely confidential and there's no obligation at all. Simply fill out the form below
Read on About Conveyancing - General Guide
Basics
of Conveyancing
About the
Local Authority Search
Licensed Conveyancers
Solicitors
DIY Conveyancing
Read On / How to Buy Your Home
Problems When Home Buying
Finding a Property
Valuations and Surveys
About Conveyancing / The Legal Stuff
Costs Involved when Buying a Home
Latest Best Buy Mortgage Rates
Read On / Mortgage Guide
How
to Get a UK Mortgage
Types of Mortgage Deals
Re Mortgages
How to Find A Mortgage
What are Mortgages in Principle
Read On / Related Topics
Home and Mortgage Insurance UK Guides
Important note about your credit rating
Many websites don't make it clear that filling in their mortgage enquiry form means you might be credit checked.
This can put you at risk.
UK Mortgage lenders may assume an enquiry you have aleady made to another lender means you were turned down - and not that you are in fact carefully shopping around and rejecting the bad deals.
The best way around this significant problem is to ask an independent mortgage adviser to make anonymous enquiries for you.
Without risking your credit score an adviser can find you the best available mortgage deal. They will also know how likely you are to be accepted by the lender if you decide to make a formal application.
If you would like a recommended adviser to check out the best deals for you, anonymously, simply fill in the quick form below.
" Hmm..." You might think; "Won't I be hounded by a salesman hungry for my business? "
This is the most common question we hear from our users.
The answer is no you won't.
Firstly your enquiry is only passed to ONE person on a carefully vetted list of independent advisers.
Secondly,
these mortgage advisers are professionals. Even
when the market is slow they are busy
people. There many people who need to move homes, or get
a remortgage and are looking for advice all the time.
Regardless of the state of the property market, life goes
on.
So the advisers don't have time to hassle people. It just
doesn't work like that. No one is gong to be forced into
taking out a mortgage unless they really need one.
The advisers are very used to talking with people, perhaps like yourself, who are only "dipping their toes" into the water.
Many people just want an initial quick chat and if they feel comfortable will ask the advisor to contact them again later - often in several weeks or months. As a professional, the adviser will simply diarise this and call back at the appropriate time. There is no obligation at all.
(In the unlikely event that you ever feel at all "hassled" by someone on our list please let us know immediately. We have never heard of this. But if it happened we would definitely want to know).
Back to contents of Guide to Conveyancing
See full contents of the Home Buyers Guide
Read about How to get a Mortgage
I've read enough for now and want to get a free Quick Mortgage Quote
Local Authority Search
