HC Deb 24 March 1988 vol 130 c188W
Mr. Patchett

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to abolish local authority searches for house buyers; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Roe

Apart from searches of local land charges registers, maintained by local authorities under a duty imposed by the Local Land Charges Act 1975, the system of local authority searches is not statutory. The present system has been agreed between the Law Society and the local authority associations in response to the demands of conveyancers and their clients.