The poll, commissioned by the Council for National Land Information Service (CNLIS), revealed nearly one in five people think estate agents carry out conveyancing, while the majority of homeowners do not know what they are paying for in a local property search.
While 73 per cent of respondents were aware that local searches can identify close proximity to public rights of way, under half were aware that they can also be used to identify planned road humps and sewer works as well as resident parking controls.
The findings also shed light on Home Information Packs (HIPs), with 73 per cent of homeowners still aware of HIPs, while 15 per cent thought estate agents would foot the bill compared to 29 per cent who thought the cost of a HIP would be their responsibility.
In addition, over half of the respondents do not know what the current Bank of England Base Rate is or that it rose last month.
Alex Fraser, chief executive of C-NLIS, said: “It is quite concerning that the general public do not seem to have an understanding of these issues. Buying a house and signing up to a mortgage is possibly the largest financial commitment we make in our lives, and yet the sheer number of people who do not fully understand the basic terms and processes is worrying,”
