A COUNCIL is being blamed for house-buying “grinding to a halt” across Maldon because of delays with red tape.

Estate agents say a huge backlog of property searches is running down business and causing havoc for buyers throughout the district.

The local authority house searches are an essential part of the house buying process which must be carried out before solicitors can sign off on a sale.

They usually take between two to three weeks to complete, but recently have been delayed for upwards of three months.

Burnham-based SJ Warren estate agents have claimed the delays are massively affecting business in the area, causing some smaller agents to be “driven into the ground”.

A spokesman for the company said: “The delays have got clients pulling out left, right and centre.

“Sales take a lot of time to go through anyway, but with the added delays, small companies could really be taken down.

“As it stands, it’s massively affecting the business.

“The problem we’re having is we’ve got sales that have been ready for weeks but everyone’s having to stay put and sit where they are.”

The searches can reveal restrictions relating to land or property, helping buyers to renegotiate or pull out of the process altogether.

The spokesman added: “It has caused masses of problems.

“We’ve had people denied placements at schools, it’s killing businesses, and the clients are getting really frustrated.From our point of view and other estate agents’, this could potentially kill house buying in the area.

“No payment comes in until completion, and until the searches come back the business is receiving no income.

“It’s affecting the whole Maldon area. It’s putting people off the process, especially first-time buyers.”

SJ Warren also claims the council is only turning around two searches a day.

Maldon District Council says it is trying to clear the backlog. A spokesman said: “We are experiencing high levels of enquiries and applications for local searches.

“We have secured additional resources to assist in clearing the backlog, and a neighbouring authority is helping to deliver training and dispatch full searches.

“We are optimistic the service will get back to normal over the forthcoming weeks and we will provide a progress update on the land charges section of our website by October 18.”