OFT launches property search study

£200m property search sector to come under scrutiny across the UK

News, 8 December 2004

The Office of Fair Trading has launched a market study into £200 million property search sector, it was announced today.

The study follows a number of complaints from property search companies about difficulties in accessing data from information holders.

The OFT recently investigated a complaint of anti-competitive behaviour in the online property search market but found no grounds for action under the Competition Act 1998. However as a result of the investigation it was recommended that a market study be launched into the market as a whole.

In Scotland the relevant information is held by local authorities, the Registers of Scotland, the Environment Agency and the Coal Authority, each of which has a statutory monopoly over the information held.

OFT will look at how information is collected, access to information, charges for it, the structure of the market and regulation of the electronic gateway.

Announcing the launch of the study John Vickers, OFT Chairman, said: "Property search is essential to buying and selling property and if things go wrong it can have distressing or costly consequences for buyers. So it is important that we assess this market to ensure that it is working effectively."

If a property search goes wrong homeowners can end up buying a property without realising a road is to be built behind it or that it is on a flood plain, according to an OFT spokeswoman.

The OFT plans to publish the result of the study next summer.