SiteWrite · Desktop Research Addendum · v1.1
Desktop Research Addendum
Version 1.1 · Effective from 26 October 2026
This Desktop Research Addendum (the “Addendum”) is entered into between SiteWrite Ltd, a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 17177709 whose registered office is at 91 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 4HT (the “Supplier”, “we”, “us” or “our”), and the customer who accepts it (the “Customer”, “you” or “your”).
This Addendum supplements and forms part of the SiteWrite Terms of Service (the “Terms”). Capitalised terms used but not defined in this Addendum have the meanings given to them in the Terms. This Addendum applies only to Desktop Research. Where this Addendum conflicts with the Terms in respect of Desktop Research, this Addendum prevails. In all other respects the Terms continue in full force. The Customer accepts this Addendum when an Authorised User adds Desktop Research to the Customer’s plan, confirms the Run Acknowledgement under clause DR5, or otherwise uses Desktop Research.
Please read clauses DR2 (What Desktop Research is not), DR3 (Data sources and limitations), DR4 (Professional responsibility), DR5 (Acknowledgement each time it is run) and DR9 (Liability) carefully. Desktop Research is an automated check of third-party public records. Nobody at SiteWrite reviews the results, and you remain solely responsible for checking them and for every Report in which they are used.
DR1. Definitions
“Desktop Research” means the optional feature of the Service which, when an Authorised User asks it to, queries the Research Sources for a Research Point and returns the Research Results.
“Desktop Research Fee” means the fee for Desktop Research set out in the Order or on the Supplier’s pricing page from time to time.
“Research Point” means the location for which the queries are made: the position of the building returned by the Service’s address lookup where the survey address was selected from it, and otherwise the centre of the postcode.
“Research Results” means everything Desktop Research returns or produces for a survey, including the research pack, the findings shown in the Service, the summary page in a Report, and any text added to a Report from it.
“Research Sources” means the third-party datasets and services that Desktop Research queries, as listed in the Documentation from time to time. At the date of this Addendum they include the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, the British Geological Survey, the Mining Remediation Authority (formerly the Coal Authority), the Cheshire Brine Subsidence Compensation Board’s published map, the UK Health Security Agency, Defra, Cranfield University’s National Soil Map, HM Land Registry, the Energy Performance of Buildings Register, planning.data.gov.uk, Ofcom and OpenStreetMap.
“Run Acknowledgement” has the meaning given in clause DR5.1.
DR2. What Desktop Research is, and what it is not
DR2.1 Desktop Research is an automated desk check of public records for one Research Point, on the date it is run. It is a tool to help an Authorised User prepare for, and report on, an inspection.
DR2.2 Desktop Research is not, and must not be presented to any person as: (a) an inspection of the property; (b) a site investigation, ground investigation, or environmental or contaminated land report; (c) a legal search, including a local authority search, a drainage and water search, a CON29M coal mining report or a brine search; (d) a flood risk assessment, or an assessment for insurance or lending purposes; (e) a valuation; or (f) the advice of the Supplier or of any Research Source.
DR2.3 No person at the Supplier reviews, checks or interprets the Research Results for any survey.
DR3. Data sources and limitations
DR3.1 The Research Sources are owned and maintained by third parties. The Supplier does not create, verify or update them and has no control over their accuracy, completeness, currency, coverage or availability.
DR3.2 The Customer acknowledges that:
(a) records may be incomplete or out of date, may be modelled rather than measured, and may be mapped at a scale too broad to show conditions at an individual property;
(b) the absence of a record is not evidence that a risk or feature is absent;
(c) a check that fails or does not answer is reported as not checked, and is never an all-clear;
(d) the Research Results describe the Research Point, which may not match the boundaries of the property, and where the centre of the postcode is used it may be tens of metres or more from the building;
(e) distances are measured in a straight line;
(f) Desktop Research covers England and Wales only, and some checks cover England only; and
(g) the Research Sources and the checks made change over time, and the same property may return different results on different dates.
DR3.3 The Documentation describes the checks made and the Research Sources used, and each research pack lists the queries made for that survey.
DR4. Professional responsibility
DR4.1 Clause 5 (Customer obligations and professional responsibility) and clause 16 (AI-generated Output) of the Terms apply to Desktop Research in full, and references in them to Output include the Research Results.
DR4.2 In particular, the Customer is solely responsible for:
(a) reviewing every Research Result before relying on it or including it in a Report;
(b) checking the Research Results against its own inspection and any other information available to it;
(c) deciding whether and how any Research Result is used in a Report or in advice to any person, and the wording used;
(d) recommending to its client any legal, environmental, mining, flood or other search or investigation that its professional judgement requires, whatever the Research Results say; and
(e) explaining to its own clients, in its terms of engagement or otherwise, the nature and limitations of any desktop research on which it relies.
DR4.3 Any Research Result included in a Report becomes part of the Customer’s Report, for which the Customer is responsible in the same way as for the rest of the Report.
DR5. Acknowledgement each time Desktop Research is run
DR5.1 Before each run of Desktop Research, including any repeat run on the same survey, the Authorised User running it must confirm, in the Service, the acknowledgement of these limitations shown to them at that time (the “Run Acknowledgement”). Desktop Research will not run without it.
DR5.2 The Supplier records, against the survey and the Customer’s account, the Authorised User who confirmed each Run Acknowledgement, the date and time, and the versions of the Run Acknowledgement and of this Addendum then in force. The Customer agrees that these records are evidence that the Run Acknowledgement was given on the Customer’s behalf.
DR5.3 The Customer is responsible for ensuring that its Authorised Users understand this Addendum and the Run Acknowledgement before they use Desktop Research.
DR6. Third-party terms and attribution
DR6.1 The Research Results contain information supplied under the Research Sources’ own licences, including the Open Government Licence v3.0, the Open Database Licence (for OpenStreetMap data) and the Ofcom API terms of use. The Customer must comply with the conditions of those licences that apply to its use of the Research Results, as described in the Documentation.
DR6.2 The Customer must:
(a) keep the attributions, credits and notices delivered with the Research Results, including the “Powered by Ofcom” logo and the notices Ofcom prescribes, wherever it passes the relevant results to a client or any other third party;
(b) not alter the descriptors that Ofcom prescribes for broadband and mobile coverage;
(c) use the Research Results only for the survey and property for which they were obtained; and
(d) not extract, compile, store or resell Research Results in order to build a dataset or database of its own, or offer them as a search or data service.
DR6.3 The Supplier may add, change, suspend or withdraw any Research Source or check, without liability, where a Research Source becomes unavailable or changes its terms or charges, or where the Supplier reasonably considers it necessary.
DR7. Fees
DR7.1 Desktop Research is an optional addition to a Subscription, available on the plans shown on the Supplier’s pricing page. The Customer will pay the Desktop Research Fee in addition to its subscription Fees.
DR7.2 Unless the Order says otherwise: (a) the Desktop Research Fee is charged once for each survey and postcode, when Desktop Research first completes for that survey at that postcode in full or in part, and is added to the Customer’s next invoice; (b) running Desktop Research again on the same survey is not charged, unless the survey’s postcode has changed since it was last charged, in which case the run is charged under (a); (c) a run that returns no results is not charged; (d) during a free trial the Supplier may allow a number of free runs, as shown in the Service, and a run at a new postcode uses one of them; and (e) the Supplier may limit how often Desktop Research can be run for a survey or by the Customer in any period, as shown in the Service.
DR7.3 Clause 8 (Fees and payment) of the Terms otherwise applies to the Desktop Research Fee.
DR8. No warranty as to the Research Results
DR8.1 The Supplier will make Desktop Research available with reasonable care and skill, and clause 11.1(b) of the Terms applies to the functioning of Desktop Research as described in the Documentation.
DR8.2 Save as set out in clause DR8.1, Desktop Research and the Research Results are provided “as is”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Supplier gives no warranty, condition or representation that any Research Result or Research Source is accurate, complete, current, or suitable for any property, Report or purpose, or that Desktop Research will be available at any particular time.
DR9. Liability
DR9.1 Clause 12 of the Terms (Limitation of liability) applies in full to Desktop Research.
DR9.2 In addition to clause 12.4 of the Terms, the Supplier is not liable for any claim arising from: (a) the content, accuracy, completeness or currency of any Research Result or Research Source; (b) the Customer’s use of, reliance on, or omission of any Research Result in a Report or in advice to any person; (c) any check that fails, is not made or does not answer; or (d) the Customer’s breach of clause DR4 or DR6.
DR9.3 Subject to clause 12.1 of the Terms, and within the cap at clause 12.3 of the Terms, the Supplier’s total aggregate liability arising from Desktop Research in any 12-month period will not exceed the Desktop Research Fees paid by the Customer in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
DR9.4 The parties agree that the use of Research Results in a Report or in advice is part of the Customer’s professional work, and that clause 12.6 of the Terms applies to any claim connected with Desktop Research.
DR10. Indemnity
DR10.1 In addition to clause 13.3 of the Terms, the Customer will indemnify the Supplier against any losses, damages, costs (including reasonable legal costs) and expenses arising from any claim by the Customer’s client or any other third party in connection with the Customer’s use of Research Results in a Report or in advice, or from the Customer’s breach of clause DR6.
DR11. Data
DR11.1 To run Desktop Research, the Service sends the Research Sources location information only: the postcode, coordinates and unique property reference number (UPRN) of the property. It never sends the name or contact details of the Customer’s client.
DR11.2 Research Results are stored with the survey as Customer Data and are dealt with under clauses 6 (Customer Data) and 7 (Data protection) of the Terms and the Data Processing Addendum.
DR12. Withdrawal and changes
DR12.1 A firm administrator may remove Desktop Research from the Customer’s plan in the Service at any time. No Desktop Research Fee is charged for surveys on which Desktop Research has not completed by then.
DR12.2 The Supplier may suspend or withdraw Desktop Research on reasonable notice, or immediately where a Research Source withdraws access or where required by law. Research Results already delivered remain with the Customer’s surveys.
DR12.3 The Supplier may update this Addendum in accordance with clause 17.2 of the Terms. Where the Run Acknowledgement changes, Authorised Users will be asked to confirm the new version before their next run.