Local land charges
What is a land search?
We can provide information about land or property to you if you are a prospective purchaser or developer in the borough of St Helens.
When buying a house or land, a number of checks are usually carried out to make sure there are no problems, including a local authority search.
Your solicitor or licensed conveyancer often does this on your behalf, but you can request a search yourself if you prefer.
However, some conveyancers and solicitors use third-party companies to carry out searches on their behalf. These companies don't always request full official local authority searches from us, so the council can't be held responsible for the answers they provide or the time it takes.
If your search was carried out by a third-party company and you need further explanations about the information provided, you will need to contact the company directly as we won't be able to help.
St Helens land charges register is moving in 2023
St Helens Local Land Charges Register is being transferred to HM Land Registry as part of the Infrastructure Act 2015.
This means that following the transfer, we will no longer accept requests for Personal Searches or LLC1 applications. We will provide further information on the move once we have this.
What types of searches are there?
Official LLC1
This search provides information held in the Local Land Charges Register and can only be produced and certified by a local government authority. This search can reveal any restrictions, prohibitions or financial charges on the property or area of land.
Official CON29R
This search includes approximately 85 enquiry sections which provide important environmental information about the property or area of land. It can reveal any building regulation information, drainage agreements, contaminated land, conservation areas, road proposals or schemes and any statutory notices against the property or area of land which may incur financial charges.
Official CON29O
This search includes 19 optional enquiry sections which provide further environmental information about the property or area of land. It can reveal any noise abatement notices, road proposals by private bodies, enterprise zones, common land notices and public paths affecting the property or area of land.
Personal searches
A personal search is a free service which provides basic Local Land Charges Register information on a property or area of land. The search does not reveal any planning information, in accordance with Rule 7 of the Local Land Charges Rules 1977; planning information is readily and freely accessible by using the Planning Portal.
To submit a personal search for the Local Land Charges Register, please email us.
How do I apply?
CON29R, CON29O and LLC1s
Enquiries for LLC1s, CON29Rs or CON29Os may be submitted using our online local land charges service.
If you have not used our online local land charges service before, you will need to register for an account.
Please be aware that if you're uploading documents as part of your search, the total file size of all files cannot exceed 4MB.
Enquiries can also be submitted through the NLIS website.
All enquiries should be submitted together with an up-to-date plan (to scale) with the boundary edged in red.
Personal search enquiries
To submit a personal search for the local land charges register, please email us.
The local land charges register is held in paper form.
Each premises record identifies any registerable entry and will contain references to areas such as planning consents and tree preservation orders (TPOs).
If there are no registerable entries relating to the property, there will be no 'card' and you will be advised accordingly.
If you wish to view or obtain copies of any of the documents listed on the register (e.g. planning permissions), you should contact the appropriate council department.
Timescales
All requests are processed within 9 weeks, which start from the day after the request is received and validated.
If you have any specific enquiries, please email us. This is monitored throughout office hours and you will receive a reply.
We are currently processing searches received on the following dates:
- CON29s, LLC1 and optional enquiries: Week 4 of June 2024
- Personal searches: Week 1 July 2024
How much does it cost?
| Description | Fee | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| For each full CON29R enquiry (inc LLC1): (LLC1 not vatable) | £225.30 | £31.58 |
| CON29R | £189.50 | £31.58 |
| Optional check of planning and building control information | £30.40 | £5.07 |
| Copy of CON29R search result (not updated) | £48.50 | £8.08 |
| Separate LLC1 enquiry | £35.80 | N/A |
| For each additional parcel of land in the same transaction | £27.80 | £4.63 |
| Optional enquiries (per question) | £42.20 | £7.03 |
| Optional pre-submission application check | £31.80 | N/A |
| Administration fee/cancellation/rejection fee | £51.25 | N/A |
| Additional CON29R questions (individual cost) | ||
| 1.1 A | £28.90 | £4.82 |
| 1.1B-I | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 1.1J-L | £28.90 | £4.82 |
| 1.2 Public Info (copy) UDP Full Set | £54.30 | £9.05 |
| Individual Maps | £18.50 | £3.08 |
| 2.1 A-D, 2.2 | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.1 - 3.3 | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.4 D | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.5 A-B (There are no planned railway developments) | N/A | N/A |
| 3.6 (A-L) | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.7 A-G | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.8 All | £28.90 | £4.82 |
| 3.9 (A-N) Tailored Report | £28.90 | £4.82 |
| 3.10 (A-H) Tailored Report | N/A | N/A |
| 3.11 A-B | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.12 CP | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.13 A-C | £13.90 | £2.32 |
| 3.15 ACV | N/A | N/A |
What if I change my mind?
From 20 December 2021 there is now a fee for the cancellation of a search request or the rejection of a request.
The fee can be found in our fees table.
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