London Cyberattack Poses Risk to Thousands of Home Sales
A “sophisticated, criminal cyberattack” is threatening to hold up thousands of home sales in two of London’s richest boroughs.
Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have been unable to process local authority searches since November, when a cyberattack disrupted their services and forced them to activate emergency plans. Local authority searches are crucial for homebuyers, providing essential information about a property and its surrounding area, including flood risk and new developments. Unfortunately, neither council has provided a timeline for when these services will be restored.
“If you’re buying with a mortgage, you’ll need a local authority search to secure the loan — you can’t proceed without them,” said Nick Gregori, head of research at LonRes. Even for cash buyers, obtaining these searches is prudent, as no home purchaser wants to face unexpected surprises later on, he added.
The UK has faced a series of damaging cyberattacks over the past year. Notably, Marks & Spencer Group Plc and the Co-op supermarket chain experienced disruptions to their stores and online sales due to hackers during the summer. Additionally, car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover had to halt production for over a month following a severe cyberattack in August.
“We know this is frustrating and will work as hard as possible to tackle the backlog once our systems are safely restored,” stated Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, in an emailed statement. She emphasized that systems are being cautiously reactivated with guidance from the NCC Group, Met Police, and the National Cyber Security Centre.
A spokesperson for Westminster City Council mentioned that they are working around the clock to restore systems “safely,” and they “anticipate resuming processing as soon as possible.”
Councils are local government organizations that provide essential services to residents, including waste collection, education, social care, and housing. The two affected London boroughs share some technological infrastructure, which has compounded the issue.
Between 2021 and 2024, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea averaged a combined 350 home transactions per month, according to an analysis of Land Registry data by LonRes. In the 2024-2025 period, Kensington and Chelsea’s residential stamp duty bill totaled approximately £530 million ($728 million).
The delays in processing local authority searches come amid a broader slump in the London housing market, driven partly by increases in the stamp duty transaction tax and the impending mansion tax on homes valued over £2 million. Residential sales above £5 million fell by 18% in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, putting them on track for the lowest annual total since 2020, according to broker Savills Plc.
“We have a government that wants to build 1.5 million homes, but this is a proverbial spanner in two key boroughs of London,” remarked Philip Eastwood, an agent at The Buying Solution. He noted that even after the issue is resolved, the significant backlog will continue to delay the completion of local authority searches and home transactions.
The impact of the cyberattack on local authority searches “will undoubtedly affect the number of sales that can take place in the borough, and in turn, the revenue the borough will be able to generate,” Gregori stated.
In November, the UK government published research estimating that cyberattacks cost the country £14.7 billion annually.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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A “sophisticated, criminal cyberattack” is threatening to hold up thousands of home sales in two of London’s richest boroughs.
Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have been unable to process local authority searches since November, when a cyberattack disrupted their services and forced them to activate emergency plans. Local authority searches are crucial for homebuyers, providing essential information about a property and its surrounding area, including flood risk and new developments. Unfortunately, neither council has provided a timeline for when these services will be restored.
“If you’re buying with a mortgage, you’ll need a local authority search to secure the loan — you can’t proceed without them,” said Nick Gregori, head of research at LonRes. Even for cash buyers, obtaining these searches is prudent, as no home purchaser wants to face unexpected surprises later on, he added.
The UK has faced a series of damaging cyberattacks over the past year. Notably, Marks & Spencer Group Plc and the Co-op supermarket chain experienced disruptions to their stores and online sales due to hackers during the summer. Additionally, car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover had to halt production for over a month following a severe cyberattack in August.
“We know this is frustrating and will work as hard as possible to tackle the backlog once our systems are safely restored,” stated Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, in an emailed statement. She emphasized that systems are being cautiously reactivated with guidance from the NCC Group, Met Police, and the National Cyber Security Centre.
A spokesperson for Westminster City Council mentioned that they are working around the clock to restore systems “safely,” and they “anticipate resuming processing as soon as possible.”
Councils are local government organizations that provide essential services to residents, including waste collection, education, social care, and housing. The two affected London boroughs share some technological infrastructure, which has compounded the issue.
Between 2021 and 2024, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea averaged a combined 350 home transactions per month, according to an analysis of Land Registry data by LonRes. In the 2024-2025 period, Kensington and Chelsea’s residential stamp duty bill totaled approximately £530 million ($728 million).
The delays in processing local authority searches come amid a broader slump in the London housing market, driven partly by increases in the stamp duty transaction tax and the impending mansion tax on homes valued over £2 million. Residential sales above £5 million fell by 18% in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, putting them on track for the lowest annual total since 2020, according to broker Savills Plc.
“We have a government that wants to build 1.5 million homes, but this is a proverbial spanner in two key boroughs of London,” remarked Philip Eastwood, an agent at The Buying Solution. He noted that even after the issue is resolved, the significant backlog will continue to delay the completion of local authority searches and home transactions.
The impact of the cyberattack on local authority searches “will undoubtedly affect the number of sales that can take place in the borough, and in turn, the revenue the borough will be able to generate,” Gregori stated.
In November, the UK government published research estimating that cyberattacks cost the country £14.7 billion annually.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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