A couple from Bracknell have shared how they navigated the challenges of the local housing market’s council IT glitch and successfully completed their move earlier this month.
Kersti Ludvig, 39, and her partner Mihkel Olop, 44, moved into their house in Priestwood Avenue on March 31, with their son Scott, 8, their daughter Isabel, 6 and their dog Chuckie, 5.
After searching for their home for a year, the couple found their dream four-bedroom house last month and moved from their previous three-bed home in Agar Crescent.
They had booked to move on January 19 but the original purchasers of their old home, in spite of having all the paperwork done including land searches, pulled out at the last minute.
So the couple put their house back on the market, and within a week, Bridges Estate Agent had found them a new buyer.
However, there was suddently another delay as Kersti received a WhatsApp message from her estate agent to say they’re waiting on the land searches to be completed.
Mihkel checked the Bracknell Planning portal and discovered he couldn’t access the land searches section of the website.
By this time, the Bracknell computer had completely frozen, and no land searches were available at all. Fortunately the buyers’ solicitors and lenders had another solution.
The alternative to a land search is an indemnity policy, which is accepted by some solicitors and lenders but not others.
In this case the lender was NatWest bank who accepted the indemnity policy in lieu of the land searches.
Mihkel said: “I was quite surprised that it was accepted, but of course it’s a standard three-bed mid terrace. There should be no potential issues.”
On March 31, Kersti and Mihkel moved in and Scott and Isabel each got themselves a new bedroom.
Scott, 8, said: “The favourite thing about my bedroom is that it’s definitely bigger and it’s got more space.”
Isabel, 6, who has a strong liking for highland cows, told the LDRS that her favourite colour that she would like to paint her bedroom, was black – but her mum wasn’t buying it. Kersti said: “She’s a pink and purple girl all over.”
Bracknell Forest Council told the LDRS the issue with the land searches computer arose after a system change at the end of January.
Spokesperson Jo Male said: “Unfortunately, what was meant to be a simple switch over became problematic as the data could not be transferred as easily and accurately as anticipated.”
“The issue is that the data is not being accurately reflected within the Land Register… the system risks returning inaccurate results.”
“We are doing everything we can to get the situation resolved and will update buyers and solicitors as soon as we can resume our land charges service.”
