§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring forward legislation imposing a set time scale for local authorities to provide the results of searches in respect of house purchase.
§ Mr. John PattenLocal authority responses to local searches and inquiries were considered in both the second report of the Conveyancing Committee and the report of the interdepartmental group on simplifying house buying, copies of which are in the Library. Both reports recognised the importance of speeding up responses and made recommendations.
In October this year the Government appointed a Standing Committee on Conveyancing to promote changes in practice and procedure in the light of the recommendations of the second report. The Committee's 621W first objective will be to bring about improvements within two years which will be apparent to ordinary housebuyers and sellers.