Is a 9-week delay on a drainage & water search normal?

EssexHebridean

Sometimes further information is needed for the search to be carried out if there is an issue with the property address provided - as I said previously, most commonly this is where a water account is still set up under a plot number on a development, whilst naturally the address given for the search will be the postal address. Some search providers ask for the water account number for this reason although we don’t usually bother requesting that if the other side because we can always ask later if needed. It may be that some search providers ask for a bill as the easiest way of confirming account details when these issues arise. 

Echo101

Chief_of_Staffy said:

Utility bills aren't required for searches. They are irrelevant to the process. The water company is the body that would have sent out the bill in the first place, so there's no reason for them to require that bill be sent back to them to check what's on it.

"My solicitor says the water company rejected the seller’s bill as illegible and needed a clearer copy." This sounds like something out of Fargo. What does it even mean? I'd get onto your solicitor and instruct them to explain exactly what they're attempting to do.

I thought this! It sounds a bit like BS to me. My other searches came back through SearchFlow. When I spoke to the staff at my solicitor, they kept repeating that GoTo (who we were referred through via our Mortgage Broker) hasn't accepted the format of the bill, and so they haven't been able to request the water and drainage search. 

My last update was that the day before yesterday, a new one was sent off, since then, both me, the estate agent and the sellers' solicitors have chased an update, but apparently nothing has come back.

I'm pretty confident my solicitors have f'd up somehow, though.

In any case it's caused us to miss our requested exchange/completion date by two weeks and counting as this is the only issue left outstanding. I've given up asking about it now though it's too frustrating to get different answers each time I ask.