Who are IPSA?

The Association of Independent Personal Search Agents is a non-profit making representative body and support group for those individuals and organisations that compile and retail personal property searches on a commercial basis.

IPSA is the leading UK trade association for personal search agents and membership includes some of the largest search firms in the country as well as many independent companies and sole traders.

Incorporated in August 2005, IPSA has represented its members at both local and national level, and was chosen among other industry organisations to advise Government on the implementation of the OFT’s 2005 Market Study on Property Searches and the inclusion of personal searches in Home Information Packs.

Between 2007 and 2009 IPSA was instrumental in obtaining key legal advice from leading counsel proving that Local Authorities should provide access to their records free of charge.  This led to IPSA playing a key role in obtaining numerous decisions from the Information Commissioner’s Office against Local Authorities which consistently refused to implement the Environmental Information Regulations of 2004 by charging for information which should have been provided free of charge.

IPSA continues to liaise with other industry bodies such as the Property Codes Compliance Board (PCCB) and the Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO).  Our Chairman, Andrew Prismall, has a seat on the HMLR External Advisory Board and HMLR Industry Panel, as well as attending regular meetings of the Genesis Initiative at the Bank of England where he is able to share the views of our members.  He also represents IPSA on the Search Code through his seat on the CoPSO Executive meetings.

“Why use a national firm for your local searches, when you

can use a Local Business with National Coverage?”

Why “Ask a Local”? By Andrew Prismall, Chairman IPSA

Association of Independent Personal Search Agents

I can’t claim the credit for us using this phrase.  My wife said to me one day “What do you when you are lost in a strange town? Who do you ask for help?” The answer, of course, is the above phrase.

And it is very relevant when choosing a search provider for that biggest investment of someone’s life. Where they will live and raise their children possibly. The family home with lots of memories.

Using a local, independent search company has many benefits:

• Local Knowledge: The firm will have carried out hundreds or thousands of searches over the years and will, almost certainly, have copies of every single one. There will always be a search report on a property near to the intended purchase. The firm will also include someone very keen on local matters and will have read about major development plans, parking schemes, new one way streets, you name it. I have been involved in the political debates on some of those myself. 

They will keep abreast of all local media and will know some history of various areas and the debates that raged at the time. Also, recent issues will be fresh in their mind. I recently spoke to someone thinking of  buying in a development that I knew from our Environmental Report on nearby properties was in a red flood zone.

• Experience: I have been seeing the same faces at IPSA conferences for over 13 years now. Some members will go much further back than that. We are true “search professionals” in every meaning of the title. Some of us have seen the industry from different angles over the years.  For my own story, I was Local Land Charges Manager of Cardiff City Council in 1987 as a fresh faced 21 year old.  Since then I have worked for a major national search firm as Searches Manager, I have been a self-employed search agent, and an now the owner of my own Search Company, “HW”, on the South Coast.

This level of experience among our search companies means that we don’t only know about the content of the reports, we know what to look for and where to find it. We can also advise our conveyancer clients on all the latest products from the various suppliers. There are now 3 different providers of Environmental    Reports – an IPSA member will be able to advise on the pros and cons of each set of reports with no loyalty to any one firm at all.

• Up to date knowledge: Through our annual conference, national AGM and very regular newsletters, often pages thick, our members are the best informed search people around.  They know exactly what’s happening with schemes such as the HMLR Land Charges project, the Search Code, cyber crime initiatives, new reports and software amongst others. Digital signatures, for example, is always a very hot topic, and I have recently represented IPSA in discussions with HMLR in their Industry Panel.

All in all, we are the real professionals.  We have a passion for what we do.  We really don’t like mistakes – we make sure we don’t make any as best we can. We will investigate property histories like a detective and won’t sign off that report until we are 100% happy with it.  At HW, we put our own email addresses on every report we write.  If anything needs explaining, you know exactly where to write to. And you will get an answer from someone with some of the best search experience around.

*Ask a Local* has now been superseded by our new strapline, ‘Find your Local Expert’, but it still has the same meaning in essence!