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ETSOS plan on getting it right

Print [1]Conveyancing search specialist ETSOS [2] has announced an important addition to its Hazard Checker service, which automatically recommends additional searches and reports based on property location.

From 24 July it will also incorporate Landmark’s new Plansearch Plus Alert solution, including four new planning alerts to help conveyancers notify clients of any nearby planning applications.

The alerts cover small and large residential, and small and large non-residential applications to give users upfront insight into the precise nature of the proposed developments and their likely impact on the area.

The enhancement comes at a time when diligence around searches is very much in the spotlight. In a recent landmark ruling, a firm acting on behalf of a buyer was found guilty of negligence, due to its failure to pick up on development plans to build a wind farm less than a mile away from the property, this in spite of the firm undertaking what it thought were the ‘normal searches’.

The ruling has highlighted the extent to which solicitors should be investigating such issues and the importance of educating clients as to the availability of such information through the search process.

Commenting on the latest enhancement to Hazard Checker, ETSOS’s Phil Natusch said:

“Since its launch Hazard Checker has become a valuable asset for conveyancers in that it is able to identify and highlight risks that might otherwise have been missed, suggesting appropriate searches to mitigate that risk. Planning has always been a challenging area and it’s getting trickier as activity levels rise, the new Plansearch offering will help conveyancers negotiate a potential minefield more confidently.”