Bolton buyers face longest wait ever for local authority…

Homebuyers in Bolton are waiting up to 21 weeks for local authorities to search, new research shows.

Analysis by seed packet provider Moverly found that while the average wait time for a homebuyer submitting a local authority search is just three weeks in England and Wales, those buying within City Hall Bolton Metro have to wait up to 21 weeks, having seen an increase of 15 weeks since the start of the year.

Moverly analyzed data from Property Searches Direct to find out which local authorities are currently forcing buyers to wait longer, and which have seen their average wait time increase the most since January of this year.

The average search time for local authorities is currently 15 business days or 3 weeks, marking a reduction of two business days since January, according to the research.

But while this national average is encouraging, the reality for many buyers is that it takes much longer.

Bolton Metro Borough Council had the longest average response time.

After Bolton, the local authorities with the longest average response times are currently the London Borough of Camden, East Staffordshire Borough, Lichfield Borough and Tamworth Borough, all of which take an average of 8.6 weeks.

The other local authorities experiencing the largest increase in response times were Carlisle Council (+4 weeks), Hertsmere Council (+3.4 weeks), Powys Council (+3.4 weeks), the South Ribble Council (+2.8 weeks), West Lancashire Council (+2.4 weeks) and West Northamptonshire Council (+2.4 weeks).

Ed Molyneux, co-founder of Moverly, said: “The transfer process is one of the biggest delays when it comes to buying a home. Without an efficient handover, the purchase schedule can stretch out for weeks, if not months.

“At the core of the transfer is the local authority search, essential and unavoidable, it is immensely frustrating that the response time can be so long and can vary so drastically from one local authority to the next.

“Why so much difference? It’s essentially a case of resource availability and management, as well as the number of requests submitted, not to mention the fact that local authorities are painfully manual when it comes to their systems.

“In addition, while using an accredited third party to complete ‘regulated’ or ‘personal’ searches may be faster, they are also at the mercy of councils due to the fact that they need to book an appointment to use a council computer or access to paper files.

“Unfortunately, like many archaic aspects of the property transaction process, not much can be done.

“However, by having a good idea of ​​how long it might take in your local area, you can at least get ahead of the proceedings, as well as get a more concrete idea about the timeline without being in the dark.”