Buyers are at risk of missing out on the stamp duty holiday because of long delays in councils returning local authority searches, difficulties booking valuations, mortgage issues and law firms struggling to keep up with unprecedented demand.

The Conveyancing Association has warned that turnaround times are a “massive problem” as it is currently taking sellers an average of 77 from listing a property to getting a viable offer and a further 123 days from offer to exchange.

Based on these timescales, a property listed for sale today would be unlikely to reach completion before the end of the stamp duty holiday on March 31.

Almost a third of English councils are taking 20 days or more to return local authority searches, according to the Council of Property Search Organisations.

It says that 90 councils are taking 20 days or longer to provide the searches required by home buyers to complete their property purchases, while The Conveyancing Association says that 10 per cent or local authorities are taking more than six weeks to return searches.

Before the pandemic, turnaround times for 90 per cent of authorities were half this time at 10 days or fewer, according to CoPSO.

Conveyancing Association director of delivery Beth Rudolf says: “The delays are a massive problem.

“The issues are around delays to the process in terms of local searches, conveyancing resources and surveying/valuation resources.  

“The CA members I speak to are working 12-plus hours a day trying to keep on top of the work coming in and several are refusing to accept new instructions.

“The Home Buying and Selling Group is suggesting that the seller instructs their conveyancer on listing, completes their forms and asks their conveyancer to review the title and information to enable them to sort out issues around onerous leases, estate rentcharges and cladding (and any of the standard issues before those ones reared their heads after the financial crisis) before they find a buyer to help get people moved in time.

“I believe they ought to go further and also order the ‘local search’ and ‘drainage and water search’.

“The point is that searches contain information which often conflicts with the seller’s understanding, so when they are returned they can result in additional enquiries about planning permission or unadopted roads.  

“That’s fine if it is at the beginning of the transaction but not months down the line.”

Rudolf adds: “This is exacerbated by Covid-19 and the concern that buyers’ mortgages might be turned down, therefore I have heard of buyers’ solicitors deciding not to do the search until the mortgage offer arrives. 

“Mortgage offers take 45 days on average from application so with the search then taking a further 30 days, that is a real problem.  

She points out that firms are trying to save buyers from wasting £100 on searches, even though 10 per cent of transactions fall through because of delays, with an average cost to the buyer of £700.

She says: “Therefore, if the seller who is definitely selling the property spends that £100 getting that information on listing then it is available to the buyer before they choose a mortgage.

“This means they can pick the right lender for the property and it is available to the mortgage valuer to avoid post-valuation queries and overall means they are far more likely to secure the stamp duty saving.”