Harrogate homebuyers fear missing stamp duty holiday over search delays

Homebuyers in Harrogate fear missing the stamp duty holiday over the delays for land searches at Harrogate Borough Council.

The stamp duty holiday which ends on March 31 and could save them up to £15,000.

With thousands of pounds on the line some are turning to private firms, even after paying the council to do the land search.

Local authority searches, which check there are no hidden surprises for buyers, are an essential part of the home-buying process.

The council told the Stray Ferret:

“Current approximate timescales are around seven weeks. A figure we are striving to improve.”

“We are also increasing staff to approximately nine full time.”

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While the council acknowledges that the land search delays are high, some homebuyers claim they are see in much longer delays.

Mr Costar put a land search request into the council on December 4 and has been told to expect it back by April 28.

He says the buyer of his home put in a search request in early September and has not received it back yet:

“If we do not get this completed before the end of March we will have to pay £3,000 in stamp duty. It is not going to stop us but it is a lot of money.

“It’s nuts really. York and Leeds have nowhere near the same amount of waiting time as we do in Harrogate.”

The Stray Ferret first reported the delays in October when homebuyers first complained to us about the issue.

Back then Harrogate Borough Council said the average search time was just over three weeks.

Just over a month later the council had increased the expected search delays to seven weeks, the council says that figure remains today.

District’s homebuyers and agents furious over council search delays

Homebuyers and agents are furious with Harrogate Borough Council over its land search delays.

The council has admitted it is currently struggling with the volume of requests but insisted the wait is around 30 working days.

Since publishing a story about the delays we have been contacted by people who dispute the council’s timescale.

Far away from the estimated 30 working days, some claim they put requests in at the end of summer to be told that it won’t be cleared until December.

A financial adviser in Harrogate, who requested anonymity, wanted to move to a bigger house as his family is growing.

He says he put in a search request on September 25, only to be told this week that will likely be the end of December when it is complete:

“Our main issue is the communications from Harrogate Borough Council, we have had too many mixed messages.

“I think anyone could have predicted that the Stamp Duty holiday would increase demand. Why wasn’t the council prepared?”

In an email to the financial adviser, the council said it has just two staff working on searches after two “experienced members of the team” left.

An increase in demand, a backlog of searches from the first lockdown and struggles with staff numbers have all put strain on the process.

Hours after that email the communications department at the council said it currently has eight staff processing searches.

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The council also disputed the claim that searches submitted in September will not be complete by December:

“The 30-day figure is an average therefore it is the case that some searches are taking longer than 30-working days.

“We anticipate that, depending on submissions, which are currently running at twice the number we would expect, additional resources will allow us to soon reduce processing times.”

James Wort, a director at Strutt and Parker, told the Stray Ferret that his clients have experienced delays up to 90 days:

“I can give about 17 examples where the search delays have been three times what the council have said.

“We have emails from the council saying that requests from September will be complate by December. But they say it’s not true. It’s scandalous. “