Welcoming the report Brendan Doyle,chief executive officer of Habitus Surveyors Limited and Location Matters Limited said: “We warmly welcome the OFT report and in particular, its emphasis on creating greater consumer choice and more effective competition for property information. It is vital that homebuyers and homesellers are able to benefit
from competitive market or access to information that might affect the value or enjoyment of the property they wish to purchase.
The OFT recommendations will strengthen our ability to provide real and competitive choice for the consumer in the provision of searches required in the forthcomming Home Information Pack (HIP).
For far too long the market has been distorted and consumer choice restriced by many local Authorities resulting in many homebuyers suffering delays and paying far too much. ”
The OFT Report should create greater consumer choice and more effective competition within the market for property
information.In particular,the report recommends:
- That all Local Authorities should be required to give access to all the information needed to complete an HIP before
the packs are introduced in 2007,so that competition from the private sector in the compilation of local property searches is not eliminated
- That central Government should provide clear guidance on how Local Authorities should set prices for providing
property information to consumers and their agents,including PSCs,so that competition is not distorted
- That Local Authorities and ODPM should agree a revised best-value performance indicator to ensure that Local
Authorities make this information available quickly,and on the same timescale that they apply to themselves.The
Welsh Assembly should include a similar measure in the framework for Local Authorities in Wales.
-The study also recommends liberalising the electronic provision of property searches compiled by Local Authorities in England and Wales.
At present there is a single electronic source of such searches in England and Wales,called the National Land Information Service (NLIS).Making the NLIS brand and software more freely available,and encouraging Local Authorities to set up connections with retailers outside NLIS,should allow for greater consumer choice and competition in this innovative part of the market.
