Local land charges search
The purpose of a Local Land Charges Search is to find out information which may affect a piece of land or a property.
From 1 June 2009
- a revised pricing structure is in place
- New booking method for personal searches
- Local Land Charge Searches
- Submitting Searches
- Personal Searches
- Fees
- Publicly Available Information
- Water Searches - Severn Trent
- Our Commitment to you
Local Land Charge Searches
The purpose of a Land Charges Search is to find out information which may affect a piece of land or a property.
When you buy a house, your solicitor will search our records to ensure there are no issues of concern, such as plans for a motorway at the bottom of your garden or outstanding Notices requiring you to remedy an earlier wrong doing.
We carry out official searches, covered by the Local Land Charges Act 1975, and will give full replies to official LLC1 and CON29 enquiries.
Information provided in response to a search with enquiries, is controlled by law and standard questions agreed between the Law Society (who regulate solicitors) and Local Councils.
You should ensure that an official search has been carried out and ask to see the Certificate of Official Search.
You can also carry out a personal search (see below).
The search will be in two parts:
LLC1 - The Official Certificate of Search Form
This deals with all the charges registered against the property by us, e.g. improvement grants, tree preservation orders, conservation areas, smoke control, noise abatement orders and planning applications that have been approved with conditions (from August 1977).
CON29 - The Enquiries of Local Authorities Form
This deals with issues such as road schemes, planning, environmental histories and various notices affecting the property.
The CON29 comprises Required and Optional parts, and now customers can request Optional bundles (see attachment). Question 22 on the CON29 Optional form is designed for common land enquiries.
Submitting searches
Online
The National Land Information Service (NLIS) allows Conveyancing Professionals (including Solicitors) to submit Land Charges Searches online.
By Post
You will need to submit:
- A completed LLC1 and/or CON29R CON29O, (you can obtain these forms from your solicitor or law stationers).
- A cheque made payable to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (see below for fees),
- The full address (or plot number and location) and two plans (based on Ordnance Survey maps) showing the boundary of the property/land clearly edged in red.
- The return address for the search results (write in the space on form LLC1).
You can also make a personal search
Personal Searches
For a personal search you will need to make an appointment (times when register can be inspected) by contacting the Local Land Charges office.
Telephone: 0121 704 6013/6014 or Email landcharges@solihull.gov.uk
Before your appointment, you will need to submit:
- A Personal Search Request form giving the address of the property for which you need the search, your details and a list of your requirements.
- A site plan.
See attachments for Personal Search Request Form, List of fees and details of how the information can be supplied. Payment of the appropriate fee will be required at the time the information is supplied.
Fees
The Local Authorities (Charges for Property Searches) regulations 2008 came into force on 23rd December 2008. The key changes are that local authorities must now provide access to all information required to complete a property search and local authorities are permitted to charge for this data.
The revised service offers a choice of a Basic and Compiled version of the Con29R and also new bundles of Compiled Data. All searches are priced differently for Domestic and Commercial enquiries.
The new fees for a full compiled search are:-
Residential: £132.25
Commercial £143.50
LLC1 only: £19.25
Fees for Con 29 Optional questions are:-
Question 4: £24.75
Questions 5 to 21 £15.50
Question 22 (CLVG) £14.00
Please see attachments for further details of the new pricing structure and request forms for Personal Searches.
Publicly Available Information
The following information is available on line
Planning application Register
Building Regs
Water Searches
Severn Trent Water looks after public sewers in Solihull. If you want to search their records, please contact them direct at http://www.severntrentsearches.com/ or Tel: 0115 962 7269.
See also: Help and advice on highway drainage, land drainage or private drainage .
Our Commitment to You
We will return all official searches, within 10 working days. However, we aim to return searches:
- For Domestic Properties - 5 working days from receiving to posting.
- For Commercial Properties/Land - 8 working days from receiving to posting.
Contact Details
For more information on Local Land Charges phone the Local Land Charges office.
Telephone: 0121 704 6013/6014
Email landcharges@solihull.gov.uk