Office of Fair Trading Review

On 21 September 2005, the Office of Fair Trading published their report on the property search market. This study was in response to complaints the OFT had received from search companies about the difficulties experienced in accessing property information from public bodies such as local authorities. CoPSO submitted detailed evidence to the OFT as part of the study and the OFT's main recommendations include:

  • All local authorities should be required to provide access to all the information needed to complete a HIP (before the packs are introduced in 2007), so that competition from the private sector in producing local searches is not eliminated.
  • Central Government should provide clear guidance on how local authorities should set prices for providing property information to consumers and their agents, including search companies, so that competition is not distorted.
  • Local authorities and Government should agree a revised best-value performance indicator to ensure that local authorities make this information available quickly.
  • The electronic delivery of property searches by local authorities should be made available on a wider basis, than via the NLIS channels alone.

On 23 December 2005, the Government published its response which firmly supported the OFT’s recommendations.  The Government has subsequently commissioned KPMG to establish guidelines for local authorities when charging for access to data to compile a local search.  CoPSO is being consulted as part of this work. 

The Government will also publish guidance on facilitating access to all the information needed for a local search, by Summer 2007 and CoPSO has been involved in this exercise (Read the Consultation Paper - PDF). In parallel with this work, the Government will introduce the provisions within the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004, which will permit access to building regulations information, also required for a local search. These provisions should be introduced by Autumn 2007.

In July 2005, the OFT announced a further market study affecting the search industry. This examined whether the public sector had an unfair advantage selling on information in competition with companies who are reliant on the public sector for the raw data in the first place. The Government's response to this second market study is still awaited.

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