Maybe it’s a conflicting record, a missing detail, or a late-stage query from a third party. This moment of doubt is familiar to every conveyancer; the ripple of uncertainty that can quickly become a full-blown wave of delay, client frustration, and unexpected risk.
This blog uncovers four of the real risks that lurk in the details of property transactions, and how to spot them before they stall your next case.
Imagine a client purchasing a multimillion-pound property in an affluent London borough, with grand plans to repurpose the interior into their dream home. They assume planning permission will be a formality, only to discover a critical restriction post-purchase. Feeling powerless and bitter, the homeowner makes a defiant gesture by painting the façade in a dramatic colour scheme. This move immediately ran afoul of even more local regulations, as the property was in a conservation area, meaning strict rules governed its exterior appearance. The homeowner was legally compelled to repaint the house to its original visage, a costly obligation for which they were entirely unprepared.
The OneSearch Solution: This example highlights a critical pitfall: a lack of awareness about local planning and conservation rules. Without a comprehensive search, a buyer can inherit costly obligations. Our detailed reports bring these vital details to light before purchase, ensuring buyers understand a property’s true limitations and avoid unexpected financial burdens and disappointment.
In a move to make everyone envious, a wealthy couple purchased a vast country estate with roaming fields for garden space, only to discover an unexpected feature: legally protected public rights of way crisscrossing their land. Despite their desire for privacy and claims that these paths infringed on their human rights, the ancient rights of public access in England and Wales legally superseded their personal desires. People continued to walk through parts of their private estate, turning a dream of seclusion into a persistent privacy issue.
The OneSearch Solution: This story illustrates a common issue for many property buyers. Countryside rights of way are heavily protected and can significantly impact the enjoyment and use of a property. Without proper searches, a buyer might unknowingly acquire land with legally protected footpaths, leading to unexpected conflicts. Our property searches uncover these crucial details, ensuring buyers are fully aware of all access rights tied to their new home and the acres of land that it comes with.
For many, buying a home near a beautiful old church seems idyllic. However, an archaic and often surprising law known as Chancel Repair Liability can turn this dream into a financial nightmare. Dating back centuries, this obscure law can burden property owners with the financial responsibility for repairing the chancel (the area around the altar) of a local church. This liability is tied to the land’s history, not the current owner’s religious beliefs. There are real cases where unsuspecting homeowners have faced demands for hundreds of thousands of pounds for church roof repairs; a devastating blow that can come completely out of the blue, years after purchasing a property.
The OneSearch Solution: This unfortunate example underscores the vital importance of understanding all potential liabilities tied to a property. Our selection of indemnity add-ons includes chancel insurance, safeguarding buyers from this potential and incredibly costly hidden obligation, ensuring their peace of mind long after moving in.
A retiring couple, envisioning a peaceful new life in a downsized property, moved into a house only to discover a shocking secret: an abutting pond regularly overflowed into the back garden. The previous owners had failed to disclose this critical issue, leaving the new homeowners with a persistent and damaging problem they were entirely unprepared for. This unfortunate example underscores the vital importance of understanding environmental risks associated with a property.
The OneSearch Solution: Flooding is just one of many potential environmental hazards that can impact a home’s value, insurability, and liveability. Without thorough environmental searches, buyers might unknowingly purchase properties in high-risk areas. Our comprehensive environmental reports access vast datasets and expert analysis to inform buyers of potential risks, enabling them to make truly informed decisions and avoid such distressing surprises.
Every Piece in Place. Every Transaction Secure.
These four illustrations demonstrate a crucial truth for conveyancers and buyers: our homes are seldom straightforward. Furthermore, the data attached with them needs to be as accurate and as authentic as it can possibly be. In a market filled with nuanced risks and unexpected pitfalls, only a meticulous, comprehensive approach to data can truly safeguard your clients and your firm from hidden liabilities.
At OneSearch, this meticulous approach is not a feature; it’s the anchor of what we do. Our uncompromising quality and expert problem-solvers are dedicated to ensuring your conveyancing transactions are built on a bedrock of certainty. We are specialists in finding the hidden risks, correcting the inconsistencies, and giving you the peace of mind to advise your clients with unwavering confidence.
Don’t let your next transaction be stalled by the unexpected.
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data puzzle’ guide:
Her daily routine often involved grappling with a map tank, a gargantuan metal beast filled with oversized paper maps held together with tape and a prayer, where crucial property details were manually drawn, scribbled out, and drawn again. It was a world of queues for the library photocopiers and urgent pager calls, with the hope the local phone box still worked.
This era marked the early steps of OneSearch, and as Liz, now Managing Director, looks back on her three-decade journey with the company, it reveals far more than just a personal ascent. It’s a compelling narrative of how OneSearch grew from those analogue roots to become a leader in digital data, a testament to its enduring adaptability, formidable resilience, and an uncompromising dedication to delivering the complete, accurate picture to conveyancing professionals.
OneSearch, then known as SPH, began its life in 1992, rooted in a small-town planning practice in West Dunbartonshire. Thirty years ago, the world of property data was a landscape unrecognisable to today’s digital natives. There was no email, no instant downloads, no bespoke systems. Information was solely a physical commodity, painstakingly collected and manually processed.
“How we used to have to stand in a public library and commandeer the photocopier all day as we copied agendas,” Liz recalls, a chuckle in her voice. Her colleague, Heather Nash, who started around the same time, paints an even more vivid picture: “I remember having to go and photocopy Tree Preservation Orders and planning applications and then navigate my way back on the train… with my bag full of photocopies all the way back to the office again.” These bags, heavy with paper, were just the start. Once back at the office, everything had to be manually input.
Even basic communication was an odyssey. If a “roadie” – OneSearch’s intrepid data collectors – was out in the field, a pager would summon them. “You always had spare change in your pocket and try and find a public payphone which wasn’t always the easiest,” Carol Gildea, OneSearch Head of Operations recounts. “It’s like Victorian times,” Liz adds, reflecting on the sheer obstacles posed by communication in those early days.
The physical office mirrored this paper-heavy reality. “Everything used to be held on lever arch files,” Carol explains. “If you wanted to find out to conduct the search you had to check all of the folders individually.” Shelves groaned under the weight of paperwork, maps, and written statements. The morning post wasn’t just a handful of letters; it was “literally sacks and sacks of newspapers for the data collection.” Search results, once compiled, had to be printed, stuffed into huge DX or legal post bags, and physically collected each day. Caroline Taylor, who joined OneSearch in 2006, remembers that “opening all the mail used to be like a task that would typically take all morning.”
Liz, Carol, and Heather were among OneSearch’s early roadies, the pioneers who ventured out to councils across Scotland to gather data first-hand. Their job wasn’t just physical; it was often met with resistance.
Carol vividly recalls an encounter with one planner in particular. She needed clarity on a smudged entry in a vast map register, where planning applications were often written in pencil. The planner’s response was, to say the least, a tad hostile.
“I remember them saying things to us like, ‘you’re stealing the bread from our children’s mouths’. They said it so loudly that everyone in the planning department just stopped what they were doing and looked.
“And I thought to myself back then, what kind of company have I joined here?!”
This intense opposition, born from fear of a new, more efficient model, forced OneSearch to be tenacious and innovative. Liz even shared how they had to “create different company names to get in to get more appointments” with councils that limited access.
Despite the challenges, the roadie life fostered a unique camaraderie and deep understanding of the country. Liz’s personal “food run” – collecting Forfar bridies, Arbroath smokies, and Aberdeen butteries for colleagues and neighbours – paints a warm, amusing picture of the lengths they went to. Carol echoes the sentiment: “It was actually one of my favourite roles… I just loved the freedom of meeting people and going to different areas every day.” Even the frustration of receiving a pager notification for an urgent search, miles from home, necessitating a frantic search for a phone box and a “hightail it away back up to the council again,” is remembered with a wry fondness.
The journey from those manual, often combative, days to today’s seamless digital operations is a testament to OneSearch’s relentless pursuit of efficiency and quality.
“It’s just amazing to think where we are now in terms of how we operate,” Carol reflects. “Everything is at our fingertips.” The shift from fax machines with queues of people waiting, to instant digital communication with road agents, dramatically cut turnaround times.
Caroline, from her finance perspective, saw this evolution in how OneSearch dealt with councils. “a lot [of the Local Authorities] were very, very resistant to change,” she notes, regarding the move away from cheques to online payments and invoices. COVID-19 ironically became a catalyst for some of these changes, forcing councils to embrace digital access that many have since maintained.
OneSearch’s foresight in adopting a unique model early on – collecting CON29 data in-house – proved prescient. This proactive approach positioned them perfectly for the era of upfront data. Liz recounts how digitalising Local Land Charge registers, once a “pipe dream,” is now a reality. “I’d like to think that we were forward thinking that we just foresaw that rather than just being lucky,” Carol adds.
OneSearch’s 30-year journey isn’t just one of growth; it’s one of profound resilience. Caroline highlights the company’s ability to navigate immense challenges: “We’ve had the banking crash, we’ve had the removal of HIPs overnight, and the business is still here to tell the tale.”
Then there was the fire. An actual fire in the roof of the building. Liz received the call at 4AM, but by lunchtime, thanks to a well-rehearsed disaster recovery plan, OneSearch was “up and running and producing searches again.” Carol remembers competitors even reaching out to offer support during that time, a testament to the industry’s solidarity. The rapid pivot to remote work during the COVID-19 lockdown, with business “not even impacted whatsoever,” further cemented OneSearch’s adaptability.
Despite all the technological leaps and market upheavals, one thing has remained constant: OneSearch’s unwavering commitment to its people and its customers.
For customers, this translates into a unique service model. Carol, from her time as customer services manager, insists: “We don’t want to be perceived as a call centre. We’re there as a partner and as a support for our customers, so we want to build that relationship.” This personalised support means customer service staff “know exactly who they’re speaking to,” building trust that goes “a long way as to how the business continues to grow.” Even with urgent requests, OneSearch now offers solutions like Express searches and leverages long-standing relationships with councils for favours, ensuring clients get the help they need. The preference for communication may have shifted to email for busy solicitors, but the underlying dedication to direct, helpful conversation remains.
Caroline summarises the incredible journey: “It amazes me the actual resilience of the company… We’ve seen so many bad things happen, but we’ve always bounced back. We’ve always managed to work our way through.”
Now it’s 2025, and OneSearch stands as a beacon of stability and quality, a testament to three decades of adapting, innovating, and prioritising the human element. From commandeering photocopiers and fighting for appointments to instant digital delivery and personalised support, the journey is far from over, but the core commitment to solving the conveyancing puzzle for their partners, perfectly, remains as strong as ever.
Ready to see how the industry knowledge and experience available at OneSearch can help you and your firm with your property data requirements?
Fill in the form below to download your complimentary ‘Solving the
data puzzle’ guide:
Your day-to-day involves tightrope walking many deadlines, as well as advising and assuring clients on what is likely to be their biggest life purchase, so of course you are heavily relying on countless pieces of information to ensure everything aligns.
But what happens when one of these thousand pieces is missing, misprinted, or simply doesn’t fit where it should?
That’s when the clear path to completion becomes a frustrating labyrinth, and the entire transaction can stall, leaving you, your clients, and your professional reputation exposed to unnecessary risk and stress.
This isn’t a hypothetical challenge; it’s a persistent reality for many in the profession. The integrity of that underlying property search data is paramount, yet too often, conveyancers find themselves battling inconsistencies, chasing down fragmented data, or uncovering unwelcome surprises late in the process. This takes a significant toll, turning what should be a smooth journey into an ordeal filled with doubt.
When data tells the wrong story, it creates ripples of uncertainty that can affect everything from client confidence to the deal’s viability.
At OneSearch, we deeply understand that orchestrating these varied data components into a coherent finished picture is key to stress-free, confident conveyancing. This isn’t just about providing information; it’s about ensuring every single piece of your property data jigsaw is meticulously sourced, expertly verified, seamlessly integrated, and precisely where it should be, giving you the clarity and peace of mind you need from the very start.
The complexity of sourcing and combining all these diverse data points presents significant challenges. We often see conveyancers grappling with:
These inconsistencies aren’t mere inconveniences. They translate directly into:
In a market often driven by price, the hidden costs of low-quality, fragmented data far outweigh any initial savings. Your peace of mind, your reputation, and your client’s satisfaction are too valuable for compromise.
At OneSearch, we don’t just understand the data puzzle; we’re built to solve it. We believe trust in your search provider is paramount, and that trust is forged through unwavering data quality, meticulous integrity, and the genuine expertise of our people. We stand as the definitive champion of clarity in conveyancing, committed to transforming your challenges into seamless transactions.
Our approach to ‘solving the data puzzle’ involves:
By taking this meticulous, people-first approach, we guarantee clarity and confidence for conveyancers. We transform the challenge of fragmented data into the certainty of a perfectly solved puzzle.
You deserve a conveyancing process where every piece clicks into place, every time. Investing in truly trustworthy data is investing in your firm’s efficiency, reputation, and peace of mind.
Ready to see how OneSearch can help you assemble the complete conveyancing picture, seamlessly and confidently?
Fill in the form below to download your complimentary ‘Solving the
data puzzle’ guide:
In this blog, we will look at how providing OneSearch Pledge can enhance your reputation as a conveyancer and provide considerable peace of mind to your clients that their search costs will not be lost if their transaction does not proceed.
Nearly one in three residential property transactions fell through in 2024 (an estimated 296,204 transactions), with each one estimated to cost the home buyer an average of £3,456; that equates to losses of over £1bn. The wider economic losses due to fall through are estimated at £8.6 billion. The UK’s high property fall-through rate is not just a statistic; it represents a significant risk to your clients’ finances and your firm’s reputation and efficiency.
Consider that for each residential property fall-through:
While the estimates of costs vary, it is clear that the hundreds of thousands of property fall-throughs have an enormous impact on the wider economy, property transaction stakeholders, and potential buyers.
For a fee of approximately £15 per transaction, your clients can be reassured that should their matter fall through, they will receive up to £300 to cover their search costs. Given that the average cost of searches is around £400, this will return most of their search-related costs.
Offering a solution like OneSearch Pledge can really create a point of difference for your conveyancing practice, i.e., that you care. Many purchasers want to know that if their matter falls through for reasons outside of their control, they will not be financially out of pocket as a result. Not only does providing the assurance of Pledge show that you are committed to client care, but there will be a corresponding reduction in complaints and disputes arising from aborted transaction costs. Depending on your business model, you may choose to pass on the fee for Pledge or absorb this within your own costs in the knowledge that it may encourage more clients to choose your lower-risk offering.
As far as the client is concerned, they simply need to tick the option to be covered by Pledge. There is no application form, detailed paperwork, or investment of their time. In the event that they need to claim against their Pledge warranty, all they need to do is inform their conveyancer, who will advise Onesearch. If the claim is approved, the amount is paid to the client within 15 working days.
The exceptionally high level of fall-throughs in 2024/25 means that the risk of losing search fees is significant. While some customers will feel that they can absorb the cost of lost search fees if their matter falls through, many will not because they cannot afford to lose hundreds of pounds due to factors outside their control. By providing the peace of mind that Pledge provides, your conveyancing firm can demonstrate its commitment to customer care and respect for the precious financial resources of clients. We have made Pledge as simple as possible for all stakeholders – one small fee, no paperwork, and an easy claim process.
How can I help my client understand the value of Pledge?
Many home buyers may take the view that the risk of their purchase falling through is negligible. It is important to explain that the rate of aborted transactions is much higher than people think (i.e. nearly one-third in 2024). Furthermore, there is no guarantee that any subsequent purchase transactions will go through the first time. As a result, the fees for aborted transactions may start to add up. The fee is extremely small in the grand scheme of the purchase, but having a pledge means that they won’t waste money that can be put towards searching for a future purchase.
Will Pledge reimburse the seller if the seller pulls out?
Any OneSearch fees will be reimbursed to the buyer if the seller pulls out of the transaction. Specifically, we will cover the search fees if the seller is not in a legal position to sell the property or they accept a higher offer from another buyer and the home buyer is not willing to increase their offer in response.
Will Pledge reimburse the buyer if the buyer pulls out?
Any OneSearch fees will be reimbursed to the buyer if they need to pull out of their purchase for a wide range of reasons, including:
For a full list of the criteria for reimbursement and situations not covered, please click here.
Is Pledge an insurance product?
No, Pledge is a warranty add-on offered when purchasing a bundle of searches OneSearch Direct only.
OneSearch is an expert partner to conveyancing professionals, offering innovative and practical solutions to navigate the complexities and risks of the UK property market. For more information on OneSearch Pledge and what it can do for your firm and clients, please complete the contact form at the bottom of the product page or contact our team directly by email: cs@onesearchdirect.co.uk or phone: 0800 052 0117
Remote ID Verification is a method of confirming the identities of individuals such as clients or customers who are not physically present. Whereas antiquated methods of confirming identity required persons to be in the room as well as providing documents, the advancements of technology have meant authentication processes can now be carried out anywhere in the world.
In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at a faster, more accurate and more secure form of identity verification, and break down what each component is, and how they all add up to make the AML biometric verification process so much easier.
It starts with liveness detection…
What is liveness detection?
In remote identity verification the use of liveness detection is critical in preventing presentation attacks or “spoofs”. Essentially, it is to make sure the individual carrying out the test is a) real, and b) who they say they are.
Common spoofs include:
There are two forms of liveness detection; Active and Passive.
As passive liveness requires no response from the user, it is often the case that they occur without the user being aware a liveness check is taking place, let alone what security mechanism is being used. This reduces the risk of fraudulent access and identity theft.
What other examples are there in life of passive lifeless tests?
You may start noticing passive liveness tests in more and more in everyday activities, from airport security to mortgage applications.
Passive liveness is a rapidly evolving technology with the potential to significantly enhance security and convenience in various applications.
Methods:
It is that time of year again when conveyancers from across the UK come together to discuss important matters within the industry and trends for the future – National Conveyancing Week 2024.
The theme for the second day was mental health and well-being in the property sector, a topic that is often overlooked. In 2024, what are the residual impacts of COVID-19 on our sector’s mental health, what are the pressures faced by conveyancers, and what does working from home mean for our mental well-being?
While it may seem a long-distant memory for some, some within the industry believe that conveyancers are still reeling from the impacts of COVID-19 on UK property transactions. Robin Wells, Head of Sales Operations:
“I still firmly believe, as much as people will deny it, we’re still in a post-COVID slump in terms of struggling to cope with what happened and struggling to cope with what is normal.“
The loss of human contact felt during the pandemic and since the shift to working from home has undoubtedly left many feeling isolated and lonely and grappling with the question of what normal now means. Robin goes on to say:
“What is normal now? What’s a normal working environment? What’s work-life balance? What should that be? These are all buzzwords and things that are being said, but actually, what is it? What’s healthy? What’s not healthy? I think people trying to come to terms with that and find out what it is and how they get the best out of themselves and the best quality of life while working in this environment is tough”.
It may be that, in many ways, we are all still somewhat shocked by what happened in 2019 and 2020. Not everyone has had the chance to go back, debrief, and have a collective conversation about what happened, how we felt, how we now feel, and what it now means for our livelihoods. National Conveyancing Week provides an excellent forum for this to happen.
For conveyancers in the UK, the relentlessness and demands placed on them can have a negative bearing on their mental health and well-being. The seemingly endless cycle of meetings on Teams and Zoom can also make us feel disconnected. This is a sentiment that Robin Wells, Head of Sales Operations at OneSearch, resonates with:
“It is nice to go out with a customer out of the office and just say, how are you? It’s as simple as that. How are you? You’re not selling anything. That comes later. But you’ll just say, how are you? How have you been? How are you feeling? I mean, because of COVID, people don’t talk like that anymore. It’s straight onto teams, straight onto an agenda”.
So what is the solution? For Elizabeth Jarvis, Managing Director, the key is setting boundaries and being present with loved ones:
“It is easier said than done and as somebody who used to be the world’s worst for being on email late at night, it is putting firm boundaries in place for yourself. Not just for you but for being present for your loved ones, for people around you and your family. Because I think we all recognise that when your home life is going well then that has a really good positive impact on your professional and your working life too. So you don’t just owe it to us, we owe it to the people who are closest to us as well”.
Conveyancers often find themselves responding to the demands of a market that is either overheated or in a lull. The impact of this on mental health is overlooked, but the reality is we are sometimes swinging from too busy to not busy enough, resulting in concerns over job security, a genuine ‘emotional rollercoaster’. As Elizabeth Jarvis explains:
“You see, when you look at it, you think when it’s boom, it’s stressful because we’re running about like mad trying to get all these transactions through when we think about 2022, everybody was just running to stand still. People were working huge hours, you know, just trying to get all these transactions through and make the most of a really buoyant market…And then the market flattens and goes towards a natural connection again and it takes time for it to come back. And then that’s when everybody realises that they need to be really competitive. And how do they do that? And, you know, how do they retain the talent through the difficult periods?”.
We should make the most of any opportunity to discuss the mental health of conveyancers. We have all been through such an immense period of turmoil in the form of COVID-19, and market conditions remain uncertain with the background of war in Ukraine and stubbornly high mortgage interest rates. The more that we can all get together, laugh, reflect, and be optimistic about the future, the better for our collective mental health. For Elizabeth Jarvis, “It is about getting in to see a customer, getting to see your colleagues again, having that laughter brought back in again into daily life”. After all, the British are experts at this; a packet of your favourite biscuits, a cup of tea, and a chat, is sometimes all it takes to feel ‘normal’ again.