WIREDGOV

Sevenoaks District Council has become the latest local authority to migrate its local land charges data to our central, digital register.

From today (Wednesday 28 April), anyone requiring local land charges (LLC) searches in the Sevenoaks local authority area will need to get them from HM Land Registry rather than going directly to the council.

Jim Carrington-West, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Officer for Customer and Resources at Sevenoaks District Council, said:

We’re always looking at new ways to modernise and improve access to our services. Working in partnership with HM Land Registry has allowed us to tick both of these boxes. The migration has given us a great opportunity to improve the accessibility of our register data and to make the customer journey more efficient. It’s fair to say we are very pleased to be one of the first councils to migrate to the new system.

Allison Bradbury, Head of Local Land Charges Implementation at HM Land Registry, said:

We have worked closely with Sevenoaks District Council to migrate their dataset to our national, digital Local Land Charges Register. I am delighted that people buying property in Sevenoaks will now have access to instant local land charges search results, meaning it will be quicker and simpler to buy and sell property in the area.

Local land charges searches are normally required in the property-buying process. Most local land charges are restrictions or prohibitions on the use of the property such as planning permissions or listed buildings. The local land charges search will reveal whether a property is subject to a charge which then informs a buyer’s decision to buy a property or parcel of land.

HM Land Registry is working in partnership with local authorities to migrate their local land charges data to a central, digital register as part of a phased approach. Once migrated, anyone will be able to get instant online search results using the Search for Local Land Charges service.

HM Land Registry’s business customers can use their existing portal and Business Gateway channels or their usual search providers to access local land charges data for those local authorities which have migrated.

Customers will need to continue to submit CON29 enquiries to the local authority.

Watch our short video for an overview of the service.

For more information, read about the Local Land Charges Programme.