Hundreds of house sales are on the brink of collapse in a commuter town after an IT upgrade went wrong. Estate agents have warned purchases in Bracknell, Berkshire, were at risk of falling through as mortgage deals expired.
Bracknell Forest Council said it has been unable to conduct land checks on behalf of buyers following the botched upgrade. The issue has sent the local authority’s system into what reports have described as ‘chaos’, with buyers said to have been left waiting months for the checks to be done. The Labour-run council said the problem was first realised in mid-January but it wasn’t sure when it would be resolved.
In a statement on its website, Bracknell Forest Council said it was “re-configuring data for our register which is the main cause for the disruption”.
“The register is key to a Land Charges search. It needs to be complete and accurate. This work is crucial before we can safely restore the service.
“Due to the nature of the system, there is no workaround. It is not possible to revert temporarily to a manual process.
“We are unable to confirm a specific date for the restoration of the service. We sincerely apologise for the delays this will cause to property transactions.”
Local estate agent Kevin Winchester said the system issue was affecting people financially and putting dozens of housing chains in danger of collapse due to buyers pulling out.
He told The Telegraph: “It’s causing a massive delay in transactions. We’re having to tell people that if it’s a time-dependent move, you’re going to miss that deadline and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
First-time buyer Mike Cox, 28, said his life has been put “completely on hold” while waiting for the land search results since mid-February.
“The longer it goes, the more money I’m spending on rent and the more I’m dipping into savings,” he told The Telegraph. “It’s hell.”
Mortgage offers typically last for three to six months, after which buyers face repricing at a likely higher rate as the Iran war pushes borrowing costs up.