Bracknell Forest council and its software provider Arcus Global have apologised after a major technical issue with the borough’s land charges system delaying property sales and purchases.
The disruption follows the council’s switch to Arcus software at the end of January, after its previous contract expired.
According to leaders, the transition was expected to pause local land searches for around five working days, with normal service resuming in early February. However, significant and unforeseen data problems meant the system could not produce accurate or complete results.
Council officials said the data from the previous system could not be easily integrated into the new platform.
The complexity of the records required extensive cross-checking and reconfiguration after mapping issues were identified. While most of this work has now been completed, some data links still need to be resolved.
A separate council spokesperson also apologised for the same issue during a statement to the Crowthorne Village Action Group on Friday, April 17, acknowledging the ongoing disruption to residents and property transactions.
Cllr Iskandar Jefferies, cabinet member for leisure, culture, public protection and democracy, said the delays were “unacceptable” and had added stress for buyers and sellers.
According to Cllr Jeffries the council had not anticipated the scale of the data reconfiguration required but stressed that accuracy could not be compromised.
He said: “We cannot risk providing local house buyers, who are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on property, with inaccurate or faulty information,” he said.
He added that specialist council teams are working closely with Arcus to resolve the issue and that “good progress” is being made. Once the system is fully operational, the council plans to prioritise outstanding searches and bring in additional staff to tackle the backlog.
Arcus Global chief executive Peter Dewsbury said the company was aware of the disruption and is working “constructively” with the council to restore a full service.
Both organisations are holding twice-daily progress meetings, with senior staff closely monitoring and escalating the issue as efforts continue to restore normal service.
