The Local Authority Search is one of those familiar stages in the conveyancing process. A request is made, the checks are carried out, and a report comes back containing information that helps conveyancers advise their clients.
For many people it appears to be a single search.
In reality, it has always been made up of two separate parts – the LLC1 and the CON29.
The LLC1 relates to the Local Land Charges Register. This register records legally binding matters attached to the land itself. These entries can include conservation area designations, tree preservation orders, listed building status, improvement grants that must be repaid, enforcement notices and other restrictions placed on the property.
Because these charges attach to the land rather than the owner, they remain in place when the property changes hands.
The CON29 works slightly differently. Rather than checking a register, it asks the local authority a series of standard enquiries. These questions cover areas such as planning permissions, building regulation approvals, highways information, road schemes and other matters held within council departments that could affect a property or its surroundings.
Together, the LLC1 and the CON29 form what conveyancers commonly refer to as the Local Authority Search.
For many years both elements came from the same place – the local authority itself. If something appeared unusual, the information could usually be traced within that council environment.
That arrangement is now changing.
As part of the national migration programme being carried out by HM Land Registry, Local Land Charges registers across England are gradually being transferred into a central national database. When a council migrates, the LLC1 moves into the national HMLR register, while the CON29 enquiries remain with the local authority.
On paper, the idea is straightforward. The register becomes national and digital, while councils continue answering the enquiry questions relating to their own records.
In practice, the picture becomes slightly more layered.
Information that once sat within a single council system is now increasingly drawn from two sources. The land charge entries are held within the national register, while the planning, highways and building control information remains with the local authority.
For conveyancers and buyers the final report will often still appear much the same. The results are presented together as one search.
Behind the scenes, however, the route to producing that report has subtly evolved.
Search professionals now find themselves working across two systems rather than one. Most of the time the records align perfectly well. Occasionally they do not, particularly where historic information is involved.
Some land charge entries date back many decades and were originally recorded using written descriptions rather than precise digital mapping. When those records are migrated into a national system, they must be interpreted and converted into spatial data.
The vast majority migrate without difficulty. From time to time, however, a historic entry that once relied on a descriptive address or boundary needs careful interpretation when placed on a digital map.
Another quiet change concerns the relationships search agents once had with local authority land charges teams. Over many years, personal search agents developed working connections with council officers who understood the history behind particular entries.
As registers move into the national platform operated by HM Land Registry, that local layer of knowledge can sometimes feel a little further away. The record remains available, although the background behind it may not always be immediately visible.
For conveyancers and their clients the Local Authority Search still serves the same essential purpose – highlighting matters recorded by the local authority that may affect the property.
Although the way that information is gathered is quietly evolving.
What once came from one place is increasingly drawn from two.
And for those who work closely with property records, the shift is simply another reminder that while a search report may appear to be a single document, the information behind it rarely comes from just one source.
On Wednesday at 1pm on IPSA Kind Of Magic, Gareth Wax will be joined by Hamish McLay to look at the changing landscape of property searches and what the growing split between LLC1 and CON29 means for those working behind the scenes.
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