PCCB has become aware of an issue with Hackney Council regarding use of the data for local land charges searches.

Following a cyberattack on the Council’s systems, they are currently unable to process land searches. The cyber-attack has affected the land charges processing system and many other Council systems.

Whilst they may be able to provide a partial land search service in the coming weeks, they are not expecting to be able to carry out full land searches for some time and cannot currently provide a timeframe to resume normal services.

Therefore, firms may need to offer Search Delay Insurance to enable consumers to continue with house purchases in the Hackney council area, and in any other areas where a delay in obtaining information from the local authority means that it cannot be obtained within the timeframe required by the client .

Please bear in mind there are clear Search Code rules which should be followed where Search Delay Insurance is used.

In particular, the client must always be supplied with the missing data when it becomes available even if the property sale has been completed.

The details provided earlier in Bulletin No 17 have been revised and are attached as a reminder along with an optional declaration form which firms may wish to use.

For more information on Hackney Council please see the follow the link – https://hackney.gov.uk/local-land-charges-search