When buying a house, how long in total did your solicitor’s local authority searches take

[Lolita55]

I know each council is different etc, but assuming you’re just getting the standard local authority search and paying for the chancel repair indemnity fee, how long did it take from when you paid for the searches till they came back OK?

Bump

You can usually find out the timescale the authority is working at on their website. Ours is 10 days. I work for the council and it's surprising how many solicitors say they are waiting for searches yet they've been sent back days/possibly weeks ago.

The local authority search depends on the local authority, and whether your solicitor has ordered a personal or official search. Official search = the search is done by someone at the council. Personal search = someone from the search provider visits the local authority to check records and get the answers.

They vary hugely. For example, Aylesbury Vale is currently taking 4 working days. There are some London authorities taking 72 working days at the moment. Your solicitor should be able to give you an estimated date, as when they order the search, the local authority will tell the search provider. The estimated date can change though.

Drainage and water, and environmental searches are usually back within 48-72 hours. Bear in mind, though, that your solicitor won't be able to order searches until they've had the title plan from the seller's solicitors. Also they will not likely be able to review the search results the day they receive them - they will have a million other files to deal with too. It's a stressful process! Good luck!

Currently buying and selling.

House we are buying one borough over took 2 weeks.

Our house the searches took 2 months - our local council are known for moving at a pace glaciers could outrun.

If you post the area someone might be able to be more specific.

We sold in one county and it took 10 days.
Bought in the neighbouring county and it took 6-7 weeks.