News archive
CoPSO’s Annual Conference 2006: Building Confidence and Capability
28 November 2007
CoPSO published
Position Statement on the use of insurance in searches
Download these documents:
- The Application of HIP Regulations to Personal Searches (PDF)
- Advice on access to Local Authority records (PDF)
12 October 2007
CoPSO sponsors Personal Search Award
Read more (opens in a new window)
24 July 2007
Search Code and HIP Code Workshop
Details, agenda and booking form...
Thursday 12 July 2007
CoPSO appointed to Government’s new Stakeholder Advisory Panel on
Home Buying and Selling
Wednesday 20 June 2007
Lenders’ support for personal searches strengthens says CoPSO
Monday 16 April 2007
Search industry backs the Search Code and quality standards says
CoPSO
Search Code Workshop: Delivering Compliance
Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 11:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
See full details...
Tuesday 30 January 2007
CoPSO urges Government to use HIPs to protect home buyers against
all environmental risks
Friday 26 January 2007
CoPSO welcomes the Government’s support for personal local searches
in HIPs and the introduction of the Search Code
Wednesday 6 December 2006
Programme and presentations from the Conference
29 September 2006
New regulator for the property search industry
Searches Working Group
The Government has established the Property Searches Working Group which will coordinate the implementation of the Office of Fair Trading’s recommendations for improved access to local search data, as set out in their report Property Searches published in September 2005.
CoPSO has been invited to join the Working Group and its work will focus on producing Government Guidance for the search industry and local authorities on improved access to data and an associated charging regime.
The Guidance should be published by the end of 2006.
Search Code Update
Read the latest news on the development of the Search Code, which will be introduced in September 2006
> Search Code
> Search Code Update
Improved access to local authority information will be crucial to avoid
delays in compiling HIPs, says CoPSO
Eurim Showcase
On 22 June 2006, CoPSO will take part in the Eurim Showcase with MPs and their advisers in Westminster, identifying the importance of effective data sharing by the public sector with private organisations.
CoPSO Briefing Note (PDF)
Government publishes a timeline for the introduction of HIPs
The press release from ODPM is now available: follow these links to download it in Word or PDF format
CoPSO responds to the Government’s draft HIPs regulations
The response document is now available on this site. Follow these links to download it in Word or PDF format.
CoPSO Annual Report, 2004/05
The CoPSO Annual Report for 2004/05 is now available to download from the Publications page.
CoPSO’s Annual Conference
On 7 December 2005 CoPSO held its annual conference on the theme of "The Future of the Search Industry: Seizing the Opportunities". The conference uniquely brought together the property search industry and stakeholders for the first time, to focus on the key issues affecting the search market and those organisations operating within it.
The presentations seen at the conference are now available to download from this website.
OFT Report on the Search Market
On 21 September 2005, the Office of Fair Trading published its report on the property search market. The report makes a series of recommendations aimed at improving competition and access to property information, including:
- requiring local authorities to provide access to the information needed to complete a home information pack,
- providing local authorities with clearer guidance on how they should set prices for providing property information,
- agreeing revised targets with local authorities to ensure that this information is made available quickly, and
- allowing local authorities to provide electronic local searches to other third parties, in addition to the NLIS channels.
On 28 July 2005, the OFT launched a further market study into public sector information holders (PSIHs).
The study will look at whether or not the way in which PSIHs supply information works well for businesses. It will examine whether PSIHs have an unfair advantage selling on information in competition with companies who are reliant on the PSIH for that raw data in the first place.
To address this question the study will look at:
- how the raw data that PSIHs collect is turned into "value added" information
- how pricing of raw data and access to it affects competition between PSIHs and private companies selling 'value added' information
- what situations benefit from vertical integration in the provision of 'value added' information
- the effectiveness of existing guidance and laws.
Penny Boys, OFT Executive Director, said:
'Information is critical in today's knowledge economy and this study will look to see whether there are any hindrances to the development of such information markets when public bodies are also competing to make returns on their own investment.'
The study will also consider the impact of regulations resulting from EC directives such as the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 which deal with how public sector bodies should respond to requests for the re-use of public sector information. www.oft.gov.uk
On 27 July 2005, Aon limited published research on negligence claims within the legal profession. Almost half (43%) of all claim notifications among 2-10 partner firms in 2005 had been related to conveyancing, with 25% arising from residential conveyancing. In this category, most claims both by value and number stemmed from mistakes in carrying out procedural issues related to the work, particularly failure to undertake sufficient property searches or failure to correctly advise the client on points of law. www.aon.com/uk/en/about/Press_Office/conveyancing_negligence.jsp
