By Legal Futures’ Associate Search Acumen
- Since 2016, there have been 7,765 property transactions in Norwich City Council valuing just over £1.9bn
- Of those, just over 85% (6,629) were residential property transactions, totalling around £1.43bn. Norwich has experienced 1,136 commercial real estate transactions since 2016, totalling £496m
- In 2018, the number of commercial property transactions in Norwich rose by close to 15% to 430 but saw a drop in value by £27m. Figures for residential property transactions remained largely stable with a slight decrease in number (1.4%) and a similar dampening of value of £3m
- Overall, from 2016-2018 property transactions have increased by 2% – a figure that is set to benefit from the digitalisation of property data
Andy Sommerville, Director at Search Acumen, comments:
“One year on from the launch, we’re pleased to see the continued digitalisation of the Local Land Charges (LLC) register. This time it is by Norwich City Council, where professionals involved in buying and selling property can anticipate how the increased ease and speed of accessing data will improve the transaction process in the city.
“According to HMLR, decentralised LLC searches range from a few pounds to nearly £100, depending on the local authority. And turnaround time can fluctuate from one business day to more than 40 days. With around 1.03 million transactions registered in 2018 across England and Wales, that’s anywhere between one million working days of waiting time at best, or in a worst-case scenario, 40 million working days.
“A largely manual and time intensive process has caused delays that have tested the patience of both property professionals and their clients. The digitalisation of the data should be welcomed by commercial property lawyers and conveyancers alike.
“We at Search Acumen have long been a vocal supporter of the digitisation and centralisation of property big data. Being able to offer verified and up-to-date quality data will greatly benefit the legal process of property building, buying and selling and enable forward-thinking firms work fast to embrace and implement cost and labour-saving practices.”
