Moving home should become easier and less stressful because of moves to cut gazumping announced yesterday.

The time it takes solicitors to conduct a property search on a house could be cut from six weeks to half an hour using an online conveyancing service, the lord chancellor, Lord Irvine, revealed.

The national land information service website will give solicitors and buyers instant access to deeds and planning records that are currently available only through a lengthy process of written applications to more than 10 government agencies.

Solicitors said the e-conveyancing website, which runs from spring next year, would allow them to access all planning and environmental information on a single register, so they could complete legal checks on a house in less than 48 hours and exchange contracts in a week.

This would reduce gazumping, whereby a seller backs out and accepts a higher offer in the wait for solicitors to complete checks for the first buyer.

Lord Irvine said: "This is the first time since the Domesday book that we will have a complete survey of all land holdings and their associated values."

He said gazumping was expensive and traumatic and should be avoided.

Andrew Larner, of the government's improvement and development agency, said the website would cost between £10 and £20 to access and would eventually be free.

It would allow solicitors to check a property's complete planning history, its access by public roads and environmental details such as its proximity to landfill sites.

David Brown, of Abbey Law solicitors, took part in a pilot of the scheme in Bristol last year. "Using the website we can complete our checks in 48 hours," he said. "If the buyer has a mortgage complete and the seller has made detailed preparations, the website means contracts can be exchanged in one week.

"Previously, conveyancing entailed writing to 12 agencies, waiting for answers by post, then making written requests for clarification of those answers. Over 10% of house purchases would fall through in the time it took us to do this. A large proportion of that was through gazumping."

The online service will cover all commercial and residential properties in England and Wales. It will be run in a public-private partnership, with a government investment of £2m.