Lenders urged to embrace the Search Code

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) and the Property Codes Compliance Board (PCCB) have launched a campaign aimed at the lending community, requesting that all lenders recognise the Search Code.

The campaign aims to encourage lenders to make it a mandatory requirement that any conveyancer they instruct, must only commission and accept private sector search reports from Search Code compliant subscribers.

Currently over 30%of lenders already have this as a mandatory requirement in either their part 2 of the CML Lenders Handbook or their Specific Requirements of the BSA Mortgage Instructions.

The two industry bodies, CoPSO and PCCB, have written to all mortgage lenders, particularly urging those that currently don’t insist on Search Code compliance, to do so.  The letters set out the benefits of only using searches from compliant Search Code subscribers

By making it a requirement for all conveyancers instructed to only commission and accept searches from Code subscribers, CoPSO and PCCB say lenders can be confident that the information provided to their customers is thorough and reliable, that it will be provided in a timely manner and that it has come from a trusted source.

James Sherwood-Rogers, chairman of CoPSO, said: “The Search Code acts as the mark of quality for private sector search providers and is highly regarded across the industry.

“We have launched this campaign because we want all lenders to ensure that the search reports that they and their customers rely upon are of the highest quality and conducted with the utmost integrity.

“Lenders and conveyancers have a social responsibility to protect their customers from relying on inaccurate or incomplete information when buying their new home.

“By making it a mandatory requirement that all personal searches must be carried out only by Search Code subscribers, lenders can be confident that they are protecting their customer and their conveyancer, while protecting themselves as a mortgage provider.”

The Search Code acts as a mark of assurance and quality for all those, who rely on the information provided in property searches. The Code offers protection by helping to reduce the circulation of fraudulent search reports and by ensuring that the necessary insurances are in place, should an issue arise at a later date.

The Code sets out minimum standards which organisations compiling and selling search reports have to meet. All subscribers to the Code are listed on a register of subscribing firms, maintained by the PCCB and all display the Search Code logo prominently on all search reports they produce.