Personal search companies??

king132

Does anyone work or have any experience of setting up a personal search company they basically work on behalf of a solicitor or the client in purchasing a house by checking if the road is adopted etc....some of the information given on searches when a person is buying a property is freely available from the local council because of the freedom of information act.

I have a friend who works for the council who wouldn’t mind helping me out, just wanted to know if anyone knew anything about setting up a personal search company or the legalities of setting one up.

Any advice would be appreciated...

hollydays

The DAily Express-I think-features a lot of articles on franchises.Thought i saw a mention of such a company 1 or 2 weeks ago.

Pennywise

Have you investigated how much your indemnity insurance would be for this kind of business. I had a client considering something similar and the insurance premiums made it completely non-viable. There are high risks in that if your clients are given the wrong information (either your fault or someone else you get information from) they can sue you and, with property, the damages could well be substantial, hence massive insurance premiums. I'd check it out before you get drawn into the business idea too deeply.

Victoria_Falls

This is a very tricky one. To be a reputable personal search company you need professional Indemnity of £5 million. Most of the "big boys" have this. There is also an Information Accuracy Warranty that also costs. For a new starter the cost of this kind of cover (without any past record) is pretty high. This market is extremely flooded. During 2005 there were a lot of one man bands entering the personal search market, thinking they could make a quick buck, alot of these have now disappeared. In the old days, they were seen as a bit of a cow boy outfit, but now there are some major players, that are instrumental to the introduction of home information packs. It used to be a game that you could get into, but unless you have some serious capital behind you, its not worth it. Some useful sites are https://www.copso.org.uk. Have a look at the members area. This is the major players in the market. There is another organisation can IPSA, this is directed to the smaller firm, not sure on their website though

Hope this helps