The current stamp duty holiday comes to an end on 31st March 2021. It has provided an invaluable boost to the housing industry during the COVID-19 crisis, and driven mortgage approvals to levels not seen in over a decade.
Although many within the housing industry are calling on the government to extend this holiday, there is little indication that they are likely to agree to this request.
Continue reading “Don’t miss the stamp duty holiday”
If your house purchase has been delayed due to COVID-19 or other unforeseen circumstances, you may need to update your searches. Not only is this best practice to avoid any potential hazards, but many mortgage lenders will require up-to-date searches in order to protect their investment.
We now offer a refreshed version of our CON29DW drainage and water enquiry. This is available on any property within the Severn Trent region where we have completed a full CON29DW within the previous six months.
When ordering, the refresh search can be found in the CON29DW Drainage and Water Searches section of our ordering system. Simply select it, then provide us with our original order number (located in the top right of the first page of the search) along with any address changes since we originally did the search (for example, if the property originally only had a plot number, and now a postal address), and we’ll provide you with a new, full CON29DW search.
We hope you’re all well in these challenging times.
Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, Severn Trent Searches have made some changes to the way we work.
Our staff are still working to provide as normal a service as possible. We have had to temporarily close our Nottingham office, but are all working remotely, and able to offer the majority of our services.
We are able to complete CON29DW searches as normal, and the majority of our suppliers are also offering a complete service. Some local authorities however have understandably had to reduce or halt production of CON29 and LLC1 searches as they prioritise their resources. Any updates we receive regarding affected services are posted in the news section of our website.
During this period, our usual phone numbers, email and postal addresses will continue to function as normal. Full details can be found on our contact page.
Most importantly, stay safe and we look forward to hearing from you as normal.
Stratford-Upon-Avon District Council have provided us with the following update regarding their CON29 and LLC1 searches:
“In adhering to government advice Stratford-on-Avon District Council have had to make a decision on which services they can viably sustain during the current Coronavirus Emergency.
As Land Charge systems do not facilitate homeworking in part or full Stratford-on-Avon District Council have temporarily suspended the acceptance of any NEW search requests (Official and Personal). We aim to try and complete all those currently committed in the system as soon as possible in order of date received (oldest to newest).
At the point we are able to resume accepting new (Official and Personal) search requests we will inform all our customers and update our website accordingly.
We will do all we can to work through our backlog.”
The council had previously announced that they would be implementing new prices for these searches in April. They currently intend to review these once they reopen.
Thames are now operating again remotely without issue. Orders should continue to be sent to them as normal.
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Thames Water have closed their property searches department during the current crisis. During this period we will not be able to obtain searches for properties within the Thames region, or complete searches in cross-border areas.
Their statement reads as follows:
“During these challenging times, we’ve made the decision to focus our resources on our first business priority – continuing to supply water and wastewater services , while keeping our customers and staff safe. This means that our property searches will be impacted. We’ve closed for now and will be pausing all current services.
“We’re sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and thank you for your patience during this time.”
