West Berkshire property searches taking months to process

Additional staff will help clear backlog, says council chief exec

Additional members of staff have been employed by West Berkshire Council to help deal with the influx of people currently trying to move house.

Chief executive Nick Carter said the district had seen a huge surge in demand on local authority searches as people made the most of the Stamp Duty holiday, which the Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced in July.

He increased the Stamp Duty threshold from £125,000 to £500,000 until the end of March next year.

In an article in The Times last Saturday, it was reported that West Berkshire is one of the worst-performing authorities when it comes to getting property searches done quickly.

According to the report, it was taking on average 65 working days to complete the necessary work.

Mr Carter said: “There has been a huge amount of demand on the department as the uptake has been significant.

“They expect to catch up on that backlog very soon.

“My hope is that we will be starting to make a significant dent in it now we have recruited.”

He added that it was good to see that the area seemed to be a popular place to move to.

Local authority searches are used to inform potential buyers of things such as planning applications and proposals that could affect the property.

It is thought that many buyers may miss out on the Stamp Duty holiday due to the delays, meaning that it could cost them thousands of pounds more to move.