Cyber attack chaos disrupts property sales and planning decisions in two London boroughs

While Kensington & Chelsea is known for its multi-million-pound homes, designer shops and tree-lined streets, all is not merry in this prime central London hotspot.

The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea , along with its equivalent in Westminster, has been unable to process planning permissions, run the searches required to buy and sell a property or pay housing benefits to those in need, due to a cyber-attack which was discovered on November 24, 2025.

A message on the RBKC’s website reads: “The Council is still facing weeks of disruption, and it may take months to get all services back up and running.”

According to the Land Registry, there are around 2,000 property transactions in Kensington and Chelsea every year, and many of these will be affected by the current outage.

“Local authority searches are an essential part of the property buying process.

“If you're buying with a mortgage, you'll need them to secure the loan — you can't proceed without them. And if you're a cash buyer, and not subject to mortgage due diligence, it's prudent to take them out,” says Nick Gregori, head of research at property data platform LonRes.

Even buying agents negotiating on some of the capital’s most expensive real estate are struggling to find innovative solutions to the problems the cyber-attack has thrown up.

“We have two clients buying in Westminster and are having to get indemnity insurance for the searches as they won’t come back until April as the delays are so long.

“Luckily, we’re borrowing from private banks who will accept insurance, but others who are borrowing from retail banks are unlikely to have the same flexibility,” says Jo Eccles, founder of buying agency Eccord.

Those without access to private banks or large cash reserves are finding purchasing property in the two boroughs virtually impossible.

“It is easy to say: ‘just get an indemnity policy’, but solicitors are wanting to do as much due diligence as they can, which involves trawling through old records that the vendor may have, or their original purchase file and report,” says Robert Green, head of sales at John D Wood & Co. in Chelsea Green.

Planning permissions have also been stuck in limbo since November. Architect Emily Ceraudo has two permissions, a listed building consent in South Kensington and a mansard roof extension in Mayfair, on hold due to the cyber attack.

“Both clients did not believe that the whole planning system could be down for so long due to this attack, so I had to forward on emails to prove that this was the reason for the delay! I am also warning new and prospective clients of the potential delays,” says Ceraudo.