Spelthorne Borough Council joins HM Land Registry’s Local Land Charges Register

26 Apr 2021 11:50 AM

HM Land Registry’s digital Local Land Charges Register continues to grow, enabling the digital transformation of homebuying.

As of Friday 23 April, anyone requiring local land charges (LLC) searches in the local authority area of Spelthorne Borough Council will need to get them from HM Land Registry rather than going directly to the council.

Heather Morgan, Group Head for Regeneration and Growth at Spelthorne Borough Council, recently said:

We are delighted to be the first borough within Surrey to migrate to HM Land Registry’s LLC Register. We are confident that the change will be seamless for our clients and residents, whilst maintaining our high level of service and the quality of our data.

Mark Kelso, Programme Director for HM Land Registry’s Local Land Charges Programme, recently said:

We are working hard with local authorities across England and Wales to ensure property buyers can obtain the information they need quickly, allowing informed property buying decisions. This is making the conveyancing process quicker and simpler for everyone. I’m really pleased that Spelthorne is the latest local authority to join the register, giving its property customers instant, easy access to HM Land Registry’s digital LLC Register.

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 via GOV.UK 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.