Most conveyancers pick a search provider once and rarely revisit the decision.
Then a search comes back late, or a council quirk gets missed, or a client asks a question the firm can't answer, and suddenly the choice matters a great deal.
Choosing well upfront saves you all of that. Here's the checklist I'd use.
What should a conveyancer check before choosing a personal search provider?
Check six things: Search Code registration, adequate professional indemnity cover, reliable per-council turnaround, geographic coverage, proactive communication, and a clean complaints route. The first two are non-negotiable for lender acceptance and liability. The rest decide whether the relationship actually works day to day.
Most of these you can verify yourself in an afternoon. The provider should welcome the questions. A firm that bristles when you ask about its insurance or its redress route is telling you something.
How do you verify Search Code registration?
Verify it yourself on the public register held by the Property Codes Compliance Board, the body that independently monitors the Search Code. Don't rely on a logo. The Code is sponsored by CoPSO and gives consumers a redress route, so registration is the baseline for lender acceptance and credibility.
A badge on a website proves nothing. Anyone can put an image on a page. The register is the source of truth, and checking it takes a couple of minutes.
Good sign: the firm appears on the PCCB register and tells you so before you ask. Red flag: no register entry, vague answers, or a logo that doesn't match a live subscription. If you want the detail, read what 'Search Code compliant' means.
How much professional indemnity insurance is enough?
The Search Code requires "adequate and appropriate" professional indemnity cover. There's no codified pound minimum, so you have to ask the provider what they actually hold and judge whether it fits your matters. A regulated personal search is backed by that PI cover, not a statutory guarantee, so it matters.
This is the bit firms skip past. Don't let them. A provider acting on high-value commercial work needs more cover than one doing routine residential. Ask the question and read the answer carefully.
Good sign: a straight figure and a willingness to confirm it in writing. Red flag: evasion, "we're fully covered" with no number, or cover that looks thin against your matter values.
What does reliable turnaround actually look like?
Reliable turnaround means consistent results across the councils you use, not a best-case headline quoted on a good week. A well-run provider returns most searches in 24 to 72 hours, but the figure that should drive your decision is the per-council average over recent months. Ask for it.
Anyone can be fast when the council is fast. The test is what happens with the slow ones. You cannot make a slow council faster, but a good provider chases relentlessly, knows the local quirks, and tells you early when something will run late.
Ask for real per-council data. A firm that tracks its own performance can hand it over. A firm running on memory and hope will give you a vague figure and a hopeful smile.
| What to check | Why it matters | Good sign / red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Search Code registration | Baseline for lender acceptance and redress | On the PCCB register / logo only, no entry |
| PI insurance cover | Backs a regulated personal search; no statutory guarantee | Names a figure, confirms in writing / "fully covered", no number |
| Per-council turnaround | Reliability decides your exchange dates | Shares real averages / quotes a best-case headline |
| Geographic coverage | A gap means a slow workaround on the day | Covers your council patch directly / "we can sort that out" |
| Communication and chasing | Catches delays before they hit your timeline | Named contact, proactive updates / silence until you ask |
| Complaints and redress | A clean route protects you and the client | Points to TPO without hesitation / no procedure |
Does the provider cover the councils you actually use?
Confirm the provider covers your council patch directly, because a gap means a slow workaround exactly when you can't afford one. Personal search firms vary in how well they handle each authority, and some quietly subcontract councils they don't service in-house. Ask which councils they cover themselves.
Coverage isn't just a map. It's whether they know that Rossendale needs the admin ward, which authorities work by prior appointment, and how each council wants its requests formatted. Local knowledge is what separates a returned search from a rejected one.
Good sign: a clear yes on your councils and honesty about which ones they place with partners. Red flag: a breezy "we can sort that out" that turns into a three-week wait on a council they've never touched.
How should a good provider communicate?
A good provider gives you a named contact and chases councils proactively, telling you about a delay before it derails your exchange. The council wait is visible to everyone. The time lost to poor communication is invisible, but it's often just as damaging to a transaction.
You shouldn't have to ring up to find out where a search is. The provider should tell you. When a council goes quiet, a good firm is already chasing and already drafting you an update.
Good sign: unprompted updates, a real person who knows your matters. Red flag: silence until you chase, a generic inbox, nobody who can answer a specific question about a specific order.
What complaints and redress route should you expect?
Expect a clear internal complaints procedure followed by independent redress through The Property Ombudsman (TPO), which handles Search Code complaints with a maximum award of £5,000. A provider who can point you to that route without hesitation is showing you it expects to be held to account.
Most searches never go wrong. But you want to know the route exists before you need it. The redress path is part of what makes a regulated personal search a credible choice for you and for your client.
Good sign: a written complaints procedure and a straight reference to TPO. Red flag: no procedure, no mention of redress, a shrug.
Will every lender accept your chosen provider's searches?
Most major residential lenders accept Search Code-registered personal searches, but acceptance is set lender by lender in Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook. Check the specific lender's handbook for each transaction. A good provider will flag the lenders most likely to have restrictions.
There's no Law Society ruling that personal and official searches are equivalent. Acceptance is a lender-by-lender matter, full stop. For the wider comparison, see personal vs official search.
The practical rule: check the handbook before instructing, every time. A provider worth using knows where the common restrictions sit and tells you upfront, rather than leaving you to find out after the search is back.
"The firms conveyancers stay with for years aren't the cheapest or the flashiest. They're the ones that pick up the phone, know the councils cold, and never make you wonder where your search is. Reliability is the whole game."
— Valerie Bennett, Personal Search Veteran · June 2026
The checklist, in short
Pick a provider you can verify and trust. Confirm Search Code registration on the PCCB register. Ask for the PI figure and get it in writing. Demand real per-council turnaround data, not a headline. Check they cover your councils directly, give you a named contact, and can point to TPO if anything goes wrong.
Do that once, properly, and you stop thinking about searches. They just turn up, on time, correct. That's what a good provider buys you.
Valio for solicitors → · Personal vs official search → · What 'Search Code compliant' means → · Conveyancing searches explained →