This search is a standard part of the present home buying process now and this will continue under the home information pack reforms as this information will be a required part of the home information pack.

The HIP Components Project Board (including the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Law Society, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, National Association of Estate Agents and Which?) are providing help and guidance to the ODPM and have stated that searches required to go in the HIP should provide “robust, risk-based, user-friendly, property-specific information and avoid giving rise to unnecessary concerns and blight”.

The Board is not yet satisfied that a suitable contaminated land search is available that satisfies these criteria.