The largest private search organisation in the UK, Property Search Group (PSG), has initiated legal proceedings against Forest Heath District Council for allegedly holding up land searches.

It has been alleged the council refused to review its policy which allows private companies to view land search data. PSG claims restrictions in the policy prevent it from having the same level of access to data as the local council.

The case is part of an ongoing campaign by private search organisations to gain fast enough access to the data to enable them to compete with local authorities on a level playing field (Mortgage Solutions, 30/05/06, p3).

In a report last December, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) asked local authorities to provide information on local searches to private organisations within 70 minutes.

Barney Coleman, project director at home information pack (HIP) provider Openbook, said councils were still not willing to make local search information available as quickly as would be needed in the wake HIPs. He said: “When HIPs are introduced the information will need to be available within five to seven working days.” He said the worst authority he had encountered had taken six months to provide the information.

The response of Forest Heath District Council will determine whether the case goes for a full judicial review. John Burley, spokesman for PSG, said: “We have submitted a brief to the Queens Counsel and James Goudie QC is reviewing it. We will be advised in due course on how to proceed with this.” The council declined to comment.

Burley said PSG wanted to set a legal precedent so that the other 340 local authorities would fall into line with the OFT recommendations. He said: “What we really want is Government to recognise that there is a problem and to apply pressure on local authorities that appear to be breaking the law.”

PSG has already issued proceedings against Burnley Borough Council. In an oral renewal hearing on 10 March, the Honourable Mr Justice Forbes said the council had a case to answer. But David Talbot, a senior solicitor and spokesman for Burnley Borough Council, said: “We believe there will be a settlement of this matter but until it is the subject of a court order the matter has not been formally resolved. Until that point it would not be appropriate for the council to comment further.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities & Local Government said access to local search information was part of current HIP discussions. “Part of the dry run will flag up these issues,” she said.

But Mark Graves, managing director of Linear Financial Services, commented: “Why are we expecting the dry run to flag something up which the Government is already clearly aware of? There is so much work that needs to be done.”

• See more on this subject in Market Analysis on page 47