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COPSO ISSUE POSITION STATEMENT
COPSO ISSUE POSITION STATEMENT
Position Statement: Drainage and water searches
New drainage and water search
1. CoPSO recognises the case for the inclusion of the additional information in the revised drainage and water search, as it provides home buyers with comprehensive information on the water and sewerage services affecting a property.
Access to drainage and water information
2. A competitive search market drives consumer choice, service delivery and innovation but is reliant on search organisations having access to a broad range of data. The Government’s expectation that all drainage and water information for search reports should be made commercially available has not been met. This has the potential to create monopoly search providers and restricts consumer choice.
3. We welcome the action being taken by those water companies already developing commercial arrangements; however, to meet their commitment to Government, we look forward to working with the remaining water companies as they review their position on:
• entering into constructive dialogue with search firms wanting to produce drainage and water reports on what data can be made commercially available and on what terms and/or
• introducing effective reseller arrangements.
4. We recognise that the operating models of each of the 10 water companies are different and therefore it is unlikely that one single solution will achieve all these aims.
Standards
5. We confirm that all search firms requiring access to drainage and water data to compile search reports must:
• Subscribe to the Search Code, which sets quality standards for the search industry and requires all drainage and water searches supplied for a HIP to be compliant with the HIP (No2) Regulations 2007.
• Meet any agreed industry standards relating to, for example, security of data and dealing with consumer queries and complaints.
6. The Search Code will be reviewed to include any additional standards required for the analysis and interpretation of drainage and water data.
info@copso.org.uk
www.copso.org.uk
December 2007
