Severn Trent Searches has launched an enhanced CON29DW Drainage and Water search for your property’s area, ahead of the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) on 1 August.

It’s a required element of HIPs, and has been designed to increase the amount of information available to homebuyers and to improve consumer protection. New elements covered in the report include risk of flooding which indicates whether a property is at risk of internal flooding from overloaded public sewers and actions that can be taken to reduce or remove that risk; risk of low water pressure or flow to assess whether a property is at risk of problems with low water pressure, location of nearest public sewage works which reveals the distance and direction to the nearest sewage treatment works from the property and therefore the risk from odour or insects and water quality analysis which ensures that water is safe to drink and aesthetically acceptable.

“The revisions and additions to the CON29DW search are sensible and benefit consumers so we decided to introduce this service in advance of HIPs”, said Mark Jarvis, general business manager of Severn Trent Searches. “It will give our customers more information on which to base their decisions, and is part of our overall aim of giving a market leading service.”