Local land charges
Important Information
Con29 fees will be increasing from 1 April 2022. The increase is due to North Yorkshire County Council Searches Department increasing their fees.
The CON29R will be £102 (£85 + £17 VAT)
All CON29O questions remain the same with the exception of Questions 4, 21 & 22. These are questions that are answered by North Yorkshire County Council and have to increase to cover their price rises.
A new fee for additional parcels will be introduced - £15 per additional parcel (£12.50 + £2.50 VAT)
The fee for searches of the Pre-1974 register will increase to £15 (£12.50 + VAT)
You can find the full list of fees applicable from 1st April 2022 here:
What is a Local Land Charge?
A Local Land Charge is a restriction or prohibition imposed on a particular piece of land either to secure the payment of a sum of money, or to limit the use of the land. This charge is binding on successive owners and occupiers of the land.
In most cases, when a property or parcel of land is purchased, leased, mortgaged or a valuation carried out, a request for a Local Land Charges search is sent to the relevant local authority. This request for a search is usually (but not always) submitted by a solicitor or licensed conveyancer.
The council undertakes searches on individual properties - usually on behalf of prospective purchasers - to identify any town planning, statutory orders, highways, housing and environmental health matters which might impact on the property.
How do I apply for a search?
All searches must be emailed to land_charges.ham@northyorks.gov.uk or through an online Search Provider.
You must provide:
- the full postal address of the property you wish to search on
- the full postal address for your firms, so we can invoice for the fee
- an up-to-date OS location plan showing the search site marked with a red line boundary
We do not accept searches through the post
What paperwork is required?
In order to carry out a search, we require completion of a Con29R/Con29O forms and submission of a good quality OS style plan with the search site marked with a red line boundary.
Con29
The Con29 contains 2 parts and answer a set of standard enquiries that potential buyers may want to know before purchasing. The first part, the Con29R is information which the authority is required to provide and reveals issues such as:
- Planning History - 1974 - Present Day
- Building Control History - 2001 - 2021
- Environmental Health - 2004 - 2021
- Contaminated Land - 2004 - 2021
- Who maintains the roads the property is on
- Traffic schemes
- Compulsory purchase orders
- Proposed tree preservation orders
- Other notices that may affect the property
The second part, the Con29O is a set of optional enquiries that can be requested by the customer (at an additional charge) Some mortgage lenders may require these additional searches as they can include information regarding:
- Road proposals
- Public footpaths
- Noise abatement orders
- Pollution notices
- Common land and village greens
Location Plan
The location plan should be up-to-date, display at least 2 named roads, and mark the site location with a complete red line boundary.
Box C
Box C of the Con29R form is a free text space for customers to nominate up to 3 additional roads to be checked as part of their requested search. These roads need to be identified either by name (the name must also be clearly displayed on the plan provided) or by marking the roads with a colour and mentioning the colour in Box C.
The importance of plans
As the name suggests, a location plan is used to determine the location of a search site. Any search submitted with a poor quality or unacceptable plan will be rejected and returned, causing a delay to the search process. Any developer's plot plan must be accompanied by a location plan and the two can be submitted together to North Yorkshire County Council. Ultimately, the better the quality of the plan provided, the better the quality of the answer we can return with.
You can find the advice from North Yorkshire County Council on completing Box C here:
Please note, we no longer accept searches by post and with cheques attached.
Personal searches
As of 28 October 2021 Personal Searches will be obtained from HM Land Registry after completion of a data transfer project
Further information
You can contact our Land Charges Officer for further information on 01609 779977.
Alternatively, Gov.uk has a helpful article here:
