The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO)

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) is the trade association for the property search industry. Members provide a broad range of property information reports including local, environmental, drainage and water data.

Property searches play an important role in the home buying process. They provide consumers with essential information they can use to decide whether to buy a particular property and at what price.

CoPSO’s mission is to:

• Help establish a favourable operating environment for members
• Provide a forum for discussion on non-competitive issues
• Provide information to assist members with their business

CoPSO has six objectives:

• To be a central representative body to put the views of organisations providing property information reports to Government departments and agencies, Parliament, and other relevant organisations.
• To be a research and statistical centre, to aggregate and publish statistics, and to provide analysis on the market for property information reports.
• To be a technical centre providing commentary, guidance and advice on all legal and other regulatory developments of relevance to property information reports.
• To provide a forum for the exchange of non-competitive information.
• To promote property search organisations.
• To establish and enforce a code of practice for the provision of property information reports.

The Government is planning to introduce Home Information Packs (HIPs) which will revolutionise the homebuying process. Property search organisations have a major role to play in making this policy work.

CoPSO is working with the Government, local authorities, mortgage lenders and the legal profession to improve the efficiency of the house purchase process