Council issues apology after homebuyers left nearly homeless

Delays have left homebuyers in limbo due to a prolonged outage in the land charges system.

The disruption has affected property transactions across South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, with South Oxfordshire District Council confirming the issue began as part of wider IT upgrades.

The system, which underpins legal property searches, has been offline since April to allow for essential updates.

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Councillor Maggie Filipova-Rivers, Cabinet Member for Housing at South Oxfordshire District Council (Image: Supplied)

Councillor Maggie Filipova-Rivers, leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, and Councillor Bethia Thomas, leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “We want to start by offering our sincere apologies to everyone who has been impacted by the downtime of our Land Charges system.

“We fully recognise the frustration and uncertainty this has caused for residents, businesses and professionals who rely on this service.

“We have been communicating with those affected throughout this process and want to thank everyone for their understanding while our teams have been working to resolve the issues and complete the transition.”

The land charges system remained offline, with the councils confirming it is still undergoing final testing.

An estate agent in South Oxfordshire has warned homebuyers are on the brink of homelessness due to South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils incapability to fulfil basic responsibilities.

Planning services, also affected by the upgrade, were only restored on June 23.

The disruption was first announced in April, when both councils notified estate agents of a service pause from April 9 to April 30, during which no searches could be processed or returned.

These land charge searches are essential for solicitors to uncover legal, environmental, or planning constraints that may impact property value or use.

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Councillor Bethia Thomas, leader of Vale of White Horse District Council (Image: South Oxfordshire District Council)

Delays in accessing this information have left homebuyers and sellers across the districts in a holding pattern, unable to proceed with transactions.

Councillor Filipova-Rivers and Councillor Thomas said: “We are pleased to confirm that the new Land Charges system will launch on Monday 13 July, following final testing to ensure the system is working correctly and returning accurate searches.

“This final stage has been essential because these searches are relied upon for important property decisions, and inaccurate information could cause significant problems for those using the service and potentially create legal liability for the council.”

The council has acknowledged the resulting backlog and said extra resources are being deployed to clear outstanding requests “as quickly as possible.”

The leaders emphasised that the upgrade was a “significant and complex project,” replacing a system in place for more than 30 years in South Oxfordshire and over a decade in the Vale of White Horse.

The legacy system was being discontinued by its supplier, leaving the councils no option but to transition to a new platform.

Cllr Filipova-Rivers and Cllr Thomas said: “As elected leaders, we will also be reflecting on the implementation of this project, including the processes, planning and challenges encountered, to understand what lessons can be learned and if disruption could have been reduced.”