HW Other Searches

Oh yes there are,

very much so..

A combination of a desire within conveyancing to garner as much information as possible for purchasers to be protected, and the potential for various data companies to provide further products to the industry, has led to a situation, and an ever growing one, whereby the conveyancer has so many options available and potential future problems potentially covered.

 The scenarios where a conveyancer could be in court accused of not using due diligence and using all available information sources available. And personal search companies are not only happy, but duty bound, to provide all of these searches, the whole process now allows “let the buyer beware” be kicked into the bin of history. 

So, let’s have a look at all of those types of searches and reports, they come into these categories:

1. Minerals, underground, utilities and erosion
2. Development and planning
3. Cyber crime and identity checking
   

Minerals, underground, utilities and erosion

As mentioned elsewhere in The HW Library, there are three main providers of Environmental Reports, all of whom have various residential and commercial reports of various intensity and acreage, provided by search companies to the conveyancers.

There is also a minerals report. There are currently only one or two providers of these. The issue here is all about geology. And how that can affect the stability of the ground underneath and nearby.

There used to be a thinking in property ownership that the buyers of property owned “up-to the heavens and down to the depths” of the property boundary. This was a rather ancient philosophy which was never going to last in a developing world. Underground mining inevitable goes under property boundaries, so that was that part gone, and the. Aircraft came along, making a nonsense of owning the skies above your land. Can you imaging airlines writing to everyone asking for permission each time they want to fly over your garden?

But, what goes on underneath is very important to the stability of your property. Ground stability is commonly referred to in the environmental report, but there are other reports available to our clients which specialise in such things. New products on the market recently focus specifically on coastal erosion and the land underneath.

We process a free screening on all search orders when the client requests it. This will inform us of the presence of an exhaustive list of minerals and deposits present in the area of land underneath the property. This is particularly useful if they are acting in the purchase of a property outside their geographical area. 

For example, a solicitor in Hampshire acting in the purchase of a property in Derbyshire, Cornwall or Cheshire would be made aware of the presence of past coal mining activity, china clay or Cheshire Brine, respectively. Our client then has the option to either accept that information free of charge, pay for Certificate to that effect, or, depending on outcome, order a full “Ground Report” which covers all the various mining activities across the country as well as underground minerals which may affect the enjoyment of the property.

Most of the sinkhole stories which hit the media such as cars disappearing down driveways (Ripon anthracite mining) are caused by secrets underneath the property not apparent to the naked eye.

Development and Planning

While the Local Land Charges covers everything within the boundary of the property, what about the land nearby? 

That view over a green field, some trees and a lake may have been the “deal clincher” when buying that home. The much looked forward to peace and quiet in the garden assured by all that unused and open parkland nearby may her been why you paid that but more to move to this dream home. 

So, it makes perfect sense for the buyer to not want nasty surprises later on with regards that land. There are now ways in which you can find out what may be planned for that land. And your peace and quiet / view.

Firstly, the Local Search supplied by the Council will only inform on the planning applications and designated policy for the land within that boundary. At HW, we are different to most other search companies. We will advise you on planning policy and designations in the Local Plan for all the land nearby. Answers such as “land to South West allocated “public open space” are very much pleasant reading for our client. Advice such as “land to North allocated “light industrial development “ is not so welcome.

But it doesn’t end there. Not by a long way.

That extra detail in our HW searches is mostly sourced from the local Councils “Local Plan”. Every authority must have one and it allocates land a particular use or proposed use for it. For example, it may be that the Council wishes to see some brownfield land with houses on. That area could then be shaded in on that Local Plan and allocated “residential”. That would mean that planning application for residential development in that area would be welcomed, other types applications would not get through.

But these plans are not set in concrete. They are for 15 years of policy, reviewed every 5 years. They are voted on by political figures regularly fighting re-election. S0, it’s very important to look further and look at actual applications that have been made on that piece of land so important to your future enjoyment.

Over the last few years, environmental report companies have started providing planning reports. These will typically show all current applications within a 250 metres radius of the property. These are all available for HW.

Simultaneously, some of the new “all in one” enhanced environmental reports now include this as a section within them. HW provide these too, and mostly find that these reports have become the default setting for our clients when ordering search packs.

So, we now know what the Council would like to see happen to that lovely field, we know if any planning applications have been lodged which may have had a detrimental effect to the buyer of property nearby. But that’s OK for today, but what if a huge development application is submitted tomorrow. Is that likely?

While no-one claims any crystal balls here, there is one further option worth considering if nearby land is very important to the buyer. This is provided by only one provider. DevAssess are a firm headed by former developers who use their experience and judgement to assess the development potential of land all over the Country. 

They will look at all the matters which a developer would consider. Geology – how flat and stable is the land, is it water-logged?, Geography – is it near to utility provision, is it in a nice area? Politically and Economically -is it near to a prosperous town, a train station, motorway junction? All manner of issues and considerations.

Identity Checking and Cyber Crime

This is probably the newest angle to be considered by search companies. In an ideal position to act as the middleman between information providers and the conveyancing industry, companies with identity checking software and anti cyber crime facilities, are now long-established partners of HW.

Ordering Anti Money Laundering checks have been able to our clients since 2007 via our website. We added consumer and company checks soon after. 

So, our clients can check whether their client is who they say they are and of no risk. They can check that there is no suspicion over the source of funds. And, one of the biggest risks, check on completion day that the extremely large amount of money is received by the correct person, not a very clever and fake destination. Stories of firms sending money to bogus accounts are too common, and tales of dirty money being used to buy property go a long way back.

We provide all the options needed to our clients in this regard.

Modern solutions to the problems of fake bank statements and identity documents bought on the internet have been challenge by HM Land Registry approved methods of Identity proof and anti-money laundering checks. FSA regulations prevent us selling these directly to you as part of a search pack, but we have great partners in the industry that we work with.

The use of selfies, biometric passports and other modern processes allow our clients to get all of these things done without the need for the buyer to attend the conveyancers office.