Three months have gone in the world of Home Information Packs (HIPs) since the end of the transitional arrangements allowing the use of insurance in local authority searches, and it’s clear the industry is coping better than some media reports would have us believe.
Local Land Charges officers from across the midlands gathered at Birmingham Council House for a conference organised by Severn Trent Searches (STS) on 2nd July 2009. The event’s aim was to look at issues that have arisen in the property search industry since the amendments to the HIP regulations on April 6th 2009.
The speakers for the conference were Ted Beardsall (former Deputy Chief executive of the Land Registry) who spoke about the conclusions that he had come to following his recent work for the housing minister on property searches. Ted’s extensive research has led to his recommendation of incremental change towards simpler and more user-friendly property searches for consumers.
Mike Ockenden, Director General of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPPs), spoke about what HIP providers are looking for from their search suppliers as well as giving an insight into the improvements that would allow HIPs to fulfil their proper role as an ‘exchange ready’ product.
Giving the land charges officers’ perspective was Lorraine Rossiter of Cheshire East Council who was keen to stress the importance of cooperative working in the same way that private businesses do.
Severn Trent Searches’ Owen Davies spoke about the ways in which STS has worked together with local land charges departments in order to make local authority searches cheaper and more accessible for customers.
Severn Trent Searches order LLC1 and CON29 searches from all 68 local authorities within the Severn Trent region, as well as nationally, but are now working directly with around 40 authorities to supply customers with searches at ‘over the counter’ prices. Owen states, “Working together with local authorities enables us to provide an improved service for searches, also allowing us to share industry knowledge and conduct joint marketing events.”
Mark Jarvis, General Manager of Severn Trent Searches, commented “It’s clear that the greater regulation of standards brought about by the introduction of HIPs is being embraced by the land charges community. Coupled with fair competition with the private sector this can only be of benefit to consumers purchasing local authority searches.”