Searchland charges £195/seat.
We start free.
Searchland is a premium land sourcing tool for development teams — great product, wrong price for developers building applications. Homedata is the developer API for the same underlying data: planning applications, flood risk, price trends, EPC ratings, and 15 more endpoints. Self-serve signup. Free tier. No enterprise contract required.
Free tier — 100 API calls/month. No credit card required.
What Searchland is — and who it's not for
Searchland is a map-first SaaS platform for land agents, property developers, and planning consultants. It has genuinely excellent tooling for site identification: title boundaries, planning history, biodiversity net gain, energy grid capacity, ownership data. At £195/user/month it's priced for professionals who use it as a daily work tool.
It has no public API. If you want to integrate planning, flood, or property data into your own application, Searchland can't help you — they offer custom enterprise data feeds negotiated on request, not a self-serve API.
Homedata fills this gap: the same categories of data — planning applications, flood risk, environmental data, price trends, property attributes — accessible via a REST API you can start using in under 5 minutes, with pricing that scales from free to enterprise.
What Homedata covers
19 endpoints covering the data categories Searchland built their product around — available as a REST API you can call from any stack.
Planning applications
National planning search — applications, decisions, refusals. Filter by postcode, date, type. Returns coordinates, applicant, decision date, description. The data Searchland uses to show planning history on their map.
Planning API →Flood risk
NAFRA2-aligned flood risk per UPRN — rivers & sea and surface water. Risk bands (Very Low → High), confidence score, search radius. Used in Searchland's environmental data layer.
Flood Risk API →EPC ratings
Energy Performance Certificate data for any UPRN — current and potential rating (SAP score 1–100), floor area, age band, last certificate date. Searchland surfaces this in their property layer.
EPC API →Price trends & sales history
12-month median price trends by outcode, price distribution across 5 bands, and full Land Registry sold history per property. The transaction intelligence Searchland's valuation layer relies on.
Property Prices API →Comparables
Similar recently sold properties within 0.5 miles — matched by bedrooms, property type, EPC score, garden and parking. PostGIS proximity search with RICS-style scoring. The data behind any comparable analysis.
Comparables API →Address lookup & UPRN
Typeahead address search across 36M UK addresses, postcode lookup, and full property retrieve — all returning a UPRN that unlocks every other endpoint. Address find costs 2 calls, retrieve costs 5.
Address Lookup API →Solar assessment
Photovoltaic solar potential per property — panel count, system size (kWp), annual generation (kWh), savings with/without battery, payback years, CO₂ reduction, roof area and pitch estimates.
Solar API →Crime data
Police UK crime statistics for any postcode — 14 categories, 12-month rolling counts, category breakdowns. Part of the area due diligence that Searchland bundles into their site assessment module.
Crime API →Council tax & deprivation
VOA council tax band (A–H) for 29M properties, plus IMD 2019 deprivation scores across all 10 domains — income, employment, education, health, crime, housing, environment, and more.
Council Tax API →Searchland vs Homedata
Different products for different buyers. Searchland is a SaaS UI for land professionals. Homedata is an API for developers building applications.
| Searchland | Homedata | |
|---|---|---|
| Product type | SaaS map platform for land agents and developers | REST API for developers building applications |
| Pricing | £195/user/month (annual, ~£2,340/year) | Free → £49/month → £149/month → £349/month |
| Free tier | No (14-day trial on request) | Yes — 100 API calls/month, no credit card |
| Public API | No — closed SaaS product, no public API | Yes — full REST API, OpenAPI schema, SDK examples |
| Self-serve signup | Demo call required | Sign up in 60 seconds, API key instantly |
| Planning applications | ✓ (map layer — 30 years of history) | ✓ via API — search by postcode, date, type |
| Flood risk | ✓ (map layer) | ✓ via API — NAFRA2, per UPRN |
| Title boundaries | ✓ (28M freehold/leasehold on map) | LR title lookup via API — boundaries in development |
| Ownership / company data | ✓ (company trees, PSCs, directors) | Not available — on roadmap |
| Price history & trends | ✓ (transaction history on map) | ✓ via API — 30yr LR history, 12mo outcode trends |
| EPC ratings | ✓ (map layer) | ✓ via API — full certificate data per UPRN |
| Solar assessment | No | ✓ — PV potential, payback, CO₂, roof estimates |
| Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) | ✓ (Pro tier — UKHAB data) | Not available yet |
| Energy / DNO grid data | ✓ (Pro tier — substation, capacity) | Not available yet |
| Interactive playground | No (UI only, no testing environment) | ✓ — all 19 endpoints, test in-browser |
| API documentation | No public docs | ✓ — full docs with code examples in 3 languages |
| Monthly billing option | Annual only | Yes — cancel anytime |
Planning data in your application in 5 minutes
No demo call. No enterprise contract. Just an API key and a GET request.
Planning applications near a postcode — filter by date range, decision status, application type.
curl -G "https://api.homedata.co.uk/api/planning/search/" \ --data-urlencode "postcode=E1 6AN" \ --data-urlencode "application_type=Full" \ -H "Authorization: Api-Key YOUR_API_KEY"
{
"count": 14,
"results": [{
"application_reference": "E/2025/1847",
"description": "Erection of 4-storey mixed use...",
"application_type": "Full",
"decision": "Granted",
"decision_date": "2025-11-03",
"applicant_name": "Meridian Developments Ltd",
"address": "47 Commercial Street, London",
"postcode": "E1 6LT",
"latitude": 51.5199,
"longitude": -0.0728
}, ...]
}
NAFRA2 flood risk for any UPRN — rivers & sea and surface water, with confidence score.
curl "https://api.homedata.co.uk/api/risks/flood/?uprn=100023336956" \ -H "Authorization: Api-Key YOUR_API_KEY"
{
"risk_type": "flood",
"uprn": 100023336956,
"results": [{
"label": "Rivers and sea",
"score": 2,
"score_unit": "band",
"radius_description": "At property",
"properties": {
"description": "Low probability. Chance of flooding
each year: between 0.1% and 1%.",
"confidence": "high"
}
}, ...]
}
What developers build with it
The same use cases that Searchland serves — but as an API you embed in your own product.
Property due diligence tools
Automated pre-purchase or pre-instruction checks — flood risk, planning history, EPC, crime, council tax, comparables. The data Searchland's customers pull manually, delivered in one API call per property.
Land sourcing applications
Build developer-facing tools that surface planning activity, track granted permissions, and map new applications in areas of interest — the core workflow Searchland is built around, delivered as your own branded product.
Mortgage & valuation platforms
Automated property risk scoring for lending — flood risk, sold price history, EPC rating, council tax band, planning activity near the property. Reduces manual underwriting for residential and bridging loans.
Estate agent CRMs
Auto-populate new instructions with planning history, flood risk, EPC, comparables, and council tax at point of valuation. Saves 20 minutes of manual research per property — and impresses vendors.
PropTech portals
Add flood risk, planning alerts, EPC, and price trend data to property listings — the environmental context that buyers want but portals don't show. Differentiate from property portals with data they don't publish.
Insurance underwriting
Automated property risk assessment for home insurance — flood risk, construction age band, EPC, solar panels, roof type. Real-time per-quote enrichment that reduces manual surveys and improves pricing accuracy.
Land parcel due diligence in Python
A pattern Searchland's customers do manually — automated in under 30 lines. Address → UPRN → flood risk + planning history in parallel.
import requests
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
BASE = "https://api.homedata.co.uk"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Api-Key {API_KEY}"}
def site_due_diligence(address_query: str) -> dict:
# Step 1 — resolve address to UPRN
find = requests.get(f"{BASE}/api/address/find/",
params={"q": address_query, "limit": 1}, headers=HEADERS)
uprn = find.json()["suggestions"][0]["uprn"]
postcode = find.json()["suggestions"][0]["postcode"]
# Step 2 — fetch flood risk, planning, and EPC concurrently
def get_flood():
return requests.get(f"{BASE}/api/risks/flood/",
params={"uprn": uprn}, headers=HEADERS).json()
def get_planning():
return requests.get(f"{BASE}/api/planning/search/",
params={"postcode": postcode, "limit": 10}, headers=HEADERS).json()
def get_epc():
return requests.get(f"{BASE}/api/epc-checker/{uprn}/",
headers=HEADERS).json()
with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=3) as ex:
flood_f = ex.submit(get_flood)
planning_f = ex.submit(get_planning)
epc_f = ex.submit(get_epc)
return {
"uprn": uprn,
"flood_risk": flood_f.result()["results"][0]["properties"]["description"],
"planning_nearby": planning_f.result()["count"],
"epc_score": epc_f.result().get("current_energy_efficiency"),
}
result = site_due_diligence("10 Downing Street, London")
# {"uprn": 10022874092, "flood_risk": "Very Low probability...",
# "planning_nearby": 8, "epc_score": 74}
Where Searchland is genuinely better
Honest comparison: if you're a land agent or property developer who needs a polished UI, Searchland is excellent. There are things they do that we don't.
Title boundary map
Searchland renders all 28M freehold and leasehold title boundaries on a map. We have Land Registry title data via API, but a visual boundary map layer is on our roadmap, not live yet.
Ownership & company data
Searchland links properties to Companies House records — company trees, directors, PSCs, group ownership structures. We don't have this data yet. It's genuinely valuable for identifying who owns what.
Biodiversity Net Gain
BNG has been mandatory since February 2024. Searchland Pro has UKHAB habitat maps and BNG unit calculators. We don't have BNG data yet — it's on the roadmap as a standalone endpoint.
Energy & DNO grid capacity
For large developments, knowing local grid capacity is critical. Searchland Pro has substation and headroom data. We have solar assessment but not DNO capacity data.
The bottom line: if you need a polished map UI for daily land sourcing work, Searchland is worth the price. If you need to integrate any of these data categories into your own application — API first, developer self-serve, transparent pricing — that's Homedata.
Other alternatives you might be considering
PropertyData
Good for rental yield, comparables, and area stats. Has an API (credit-based). Better for valuation and agency use cases than land sourcing. No flood risk or planning endpoint.
PropertyData vs Homedata →Nestdata
Bulk property data supply — 200+ attributes, mailing triggers, 29M properties. No self-serve API, quote-based. Better for direct mail campaigns than application development.
Nestdata vs Homedata →Zoopla API
Zoopla closed their public Property API to most developers. If you were using it for listings, prices, or property data, Homedata covers those use cases with self-serve access, a free tier, and no demo required.
Zoopla API alternative →Land Registry (HMLR) open data
Free bulk downloads for sold prices and title register. Batch only — monthly updates, no API, no real-time data. Useful for analytics; not for product integrations.
getAddress() — now closed
getAddress.io was shut down following a Royal Mail IP infringement ruling in October 2025. Former users are actively migrating — Homedata covers address lookup, UPRN resolution, and full property enrichment, all with a free tier and no demo required.
getAddress() alternative →Loqate (GBG)
Enterprise address validation platform with no public pricing — requires a demo call, no developer self-serve. Better suited to large enterprise compliance use cases. Homedata has a free tier and self-serve signup, no demo required.
Loqate vs Homedata →Ideal Postcodes
Good developer experience, PAYG pricing (2.8–4.5p per lookup), UPRN included. Returns address + UPRN only — no property enrichment. Solid choice if you just need clean addresses; Homedata adds EPC, beds, type, flood risk and more.
Ideal Postcodes vs Homedata →Start building — not paying £195/month.
Get your free API key in under 2 minutes. Planning data, flood risk, EPC, price trends — all in one API. No demo call. No enterprise contract. Just sign up.
Free tier: 100 API calls/month. Address find costs just 2 calls. Cancel anytime.