HomeWelcome To Wirral
Searches - Land Charges
Wirral Council aim to provide home buyers and property conveyancers with an easily accessible guide to searches, including fees and addresses.
All our searches are carried out using the latest Geographic Information Systems, ensuring turnaround times are kept to an absolute minimum (usually within two working days). If a search is marked "URGENT" we will make every effort to return it the same day at no extra cost.
- What are Land Charges?
- What is a Search?
- Home Information Pack
- What areas can the Wirral can we search?
- How much does it cost?
- How do I submit a search?
- How do I cancel a search?
- Contact us
- Other questions
If you are planning to buy or lease a property you will need to know whether there are any 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.
In this context the word "charge" means any outstanding financial claim, restriction, decision or information which may affect a particular property or parcel of land. These include charges for such services as roads, restrictions such as tree preservation orders and conditions imposed on planning permissions, conservation areas, legal agreements and listed buildings.
The Council, by law, must keep a Land Charges Register. The register records relevant information on every property / parcel of land within the borough. It is updated daily and contains information on planning permissions, highway status/proposals, conservation area designation, tree preservation orders, enforcement notices, improvement grants, management orders, and Financial Charges.
The search is a series of standard questions designed to give any potential buyer as much information as possible about the property. This is to ensure that he/she is aware of any local matters affecting the property they are buying so that there are no hidden surprises.
Searches of the register are usually carried out by the solicitor acting on behalf of a prospective buyer, although anyone is entitled to do this. The purpose of a search is to disclose to the interested parties any financial claims and other council decision or restrictions that affect the property or parcel of land.
A search request is usually submitted in two parts: Form LLC1 and Form CON29. These forms are available from legal stationers or the Law Society
LLC1 - Application for an Official Search of the Register. The reply to such an application will, for example, reveal if the property is in a conservation area or may be a listed building, or if any trees on the property are protected by a tree preservation order etc.
CON29 - Standard Enquiries of Local Authorities Form. This deals with issues such as road schemes, planning history, building regulations and various notices which affect the property.
The CON29 is divided into two parts:
- CON 29R Enquiries of local authority (2007) ; and
- CON 29O Optional enquires of local authority (2007)
Only a CON29 Local Authority search is certified and it contains questions that do not form part of the public record and so cannot be answered by non-authority staff.
Forms CON 29R and CON 29O are available under license from the Law Society in paper and electronic format from legal stationers such as: Oyez Straker, Laserform, Peapod, LexisNexis, and Shaw & Sons.
Some solicitors use personal agency searches. These are carried out by agencies that inspect public registers and consult other areas of information to provide their own search responses. The personal agency does not have full access to all council information that may be relevant to your search. Also, the council cannot guarantee responses given by personal agency searches.
The Law Society, which regulates solicitors, encourages the use of official searches and considers that alternative personal searches of the statutory register, disclosing only limited information, should be undertaken only with the approval of the client when time does not permit official searches. Members of the public are advised to confirm with their solicitor that an official search has been undertaken and to inspect the Official Certificate of Search LLC1 and CON29 enquiries to ensure they have been carried out to their satisfaction.
Please note:-
If you rely on a personal search from a solicitor or personal search company you are reminded that they are not given, nor entitled to receive, answers to the questions on the CON29, and any information they do obtain is not covered by Section 10(3) of the Local Land Charges Act 1975 which relates to compensation for loss. The only way to receive this information is to submit the official LLC1 and CON 29 forms.
What areas of the Wirral can we search?
Please ensure that the property address required for the search falls within Wirral Council’s area. Some of the southerly portion of the Wirral Peninsula falls within the boundary of Ellesmere Port & Neston Borough Council. Please double check before applying.
- Full search (LLC1 + CON29) = £84.50
- Extra Parcel of land = £15.00
- Short Search (LLC1 only) = £24.50
- CON29R = £60.00
- CON29O = £10.00
- CON29O (No 22 Common Land) = £14.00
- Enquirer's own questions = £10.00 each*
- Personal search = £11.00
*Please note: An additional fee (charged at £46.50 per hour) may be charged for complex questions requiring extra research by a Planning Officer.
The price of a full search for £84.50 includes one free refresh search within 6 months of the date of the search. The original search must me returned with the application.
There are full instructions on the Local Land Charges forms. Your solicitor will have these forms or you can buy them from legal stationers.
Both the LLC1 and CON29 forms should be submitted at the same time if answers to both are required.
Please note that searches must include the following when submitted to be accepted for processing.
- The correct fee (please see Our Fees
- Solicitors or Clients’ own cheques are accepted and are to be made out with the correct amount to Wirral Council.
- Plans should be submitted in duplicate with the search area edged red. The plan, preferably at a scale of 1:1250 should have sufficient detail to enable Land Charges staff to accurately locate the search area
- If the property is on a new development we may require a developers plan showing the position of the building plots and the location of the site in relation to the surrounding area.
We regret that we cannot cancel searches once entered on the computer as work will have already commenced
Telephone (direct dial): 0151 606 2158
Fax: (marked “for the attention of Land Charges”) 0151 606 2180
E-mail: landcharges@wirral.gov.uk
In person or by post:
Wirral Council
Land Charges Section
Technical Services Department
Cheshire Lines Building
Canning Street
Birkenhead
CH41 1ND
Drainage Enquiries
Drainage information for the majority of Wirral is supplied by United Utilities. However, it should be noted that some roads in the Heswall area come under the jurisdiction of the Babtie Group.
- United Utilities: Map Services Direct, Stephens Way, Goose Green, Wigan WN3 6PJ. DX 719690 WIGAN 8 tel: 0870 7510101
- Babtie Group: Unit B1, Trem y Dyffryn, Colomendy Industrial Estate, Denbigh LL16 5TX tel: 01745 815815
Personal Searches
Appointments for personal searches of the registers are available on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons between 2pm and 4pm. Appointments must be booked 24 hours in advance and are subject to availability. Up to a maximum of six properties can be searched in one appointment.
Ownership Enquiries
We regret we are unable to answer questions about who owns a property. However it is possible to enquire of HM Land Registry at:
District Land Registry
Old Market House
Hamilton Street
Birkenhead
CH41 5FL
Tel: 0151 473 1110
Or online at www.landregisteronline.gov.uk
Local Land Charges Institute
Wirral Council is a member of the Local Land Charges Institute aiming to provide a quality service in this field for all.