The Chaps system is used by solicitors and conveyancing firms to complete housing and other property transactions
House purchases were delayed on Thursday because of problems with a crucial payments system, the BoE has said.
There were claims that the issue could have impacted a number of homebuyers and movers, with some “stuck waiting for the green light” and loaded-up removal vans parked in driveways, though at 4.30 pm on Thursday the BoE said service had been restored.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Bank said a “global payments issue” was affecting its automated Chaps payments system for high-value and time-critical transactions, which processes about £350 billion a day.
It added that the issue – which the BoE did not elaborate on – was delaying some payments, “including some house purchases”.
The Chaps system is used by solicitors and conveyancing firms to complete housing and other property transactions. Meanwhile, individuals will often use it to buy high-value items such as a car or to pay a deposit for a house, while banks and other financial firms use it to pay one another large sums.
The BoE later said: We are pleased to confirm that the third party supplier has restored service following their earlier issues, and Chaps payments are settling as normal. We expect that all payments received by the Bank today (Thursday) will be settled by the end of the day.
It was not clear how many house purchases had been delayed, or what effect this may have had on those impacted.
Before the announcement that service had been restored, Anthony Codling, housing analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said: The Chaps collapse could leave hundreds of homebuyers out in the cold.
He added that on average there were nearly 4,000 housing transactions a day.
