What do property searches actually check when you buy a house?
Searches are enquiries your conveyancer makes to public bodies and data providers about things that affect the property but are invisible when you view it. They are not a survey — a survey looks at the building, searches look at everything around and beneath it.
The local authority search is the main one. It covers planning permissions and building regulation approvals granted (and refused), enforcement notices, whether the road outside is publicly maintained, conservation area and listed building status, tree preservation orders, and proposed road schemes nearby. A common and expensive discovery is that a previous owner's extension or loft conversion has no building regulations sign-off.
The drainage and water search confirms whether the property connects to mains water and public sewers, where public sewers run, and whether any pass under the building — which restricts extending over them.
The environmental search covers contaminated land liability, flood risk, ground stability, landfill sites and radon.
Location-specific searches apply where relevant: coal mining and other mining searches in former extraction areas, chancel repair liability, and tin or clay searches in specific counties.
What searches do not cover is important. They will not tell you the roof is failing, the boiler is dying, the neighbours are difficult, or that a nearby field has development potential outside the council's current plans. A local authority search only reports what the council holds.
Timing and cost. Typically a few hundred pounds in total, with local authority searches ranging from a few days to several weeks depending on the council — frequently the slowest step in a purchase.
Search indemnity insurance is sometimes offered to bypass a missing search. It covers financial loss but does not give you the information.