Local Land Charges

Local Land Charges are financial charges or restrictions on the use of land which are governmental in character and imposed by public authorities under statutory powers, otherwise known as Originating Authorities.

They affect whoever owns the land and so there is an obligation that they are registered, to alert purchasers to their existence.

Their existence would not normally be apparent from an inspection of land or from the register of title held by HM Land Registry (or title deeds if the land is still unregistered land).

If a Local Land Charge is not registered, it will still affect a purchaser in just the same way as it affected the original owner.

However, if a purchaser makes an Official or Personal Search before they purchase, they will generally be entitled to compensation for the loss they suffer in consequence of the failure of the search to reveal a Local Land Charge that was in existence at the time that the search was made.

 

A search of the Local Land Charges Register would typically include charges relating to:

 

  • Planning conditions and enforcement notices

  • Tree Preservation Orders

  • Highways agreements

  • Conservation areas

  • Listed buildings

  • Environmental health notices

  • Smoke control orders

  • Light obstruction notices.

 

Official Searches

 

A full Official local authority search is made up of two parts: LLC1 and CON29.

The LLC1 certificate reveals all entries on the Local Land Charges Register, such as:

  • Financial charges

  • Tree preservation orders

  • Conservation area

  • Conditional planning consents

  • Improvement grants

The form CON29 reveals issues such as:

  • Who maintains the road the property is on

  • The planning history of the property

  • The Building Control history of the property

  • Traffic Schemes

  • Compulsory Purchase Orders

  • Proposed Tree Preservation Orders

  • Other notices that may affect the property

An Official search of the Local Land Charges Register can be requested by email to: land.charges@southderbyshire.gov.uk. Full address details and a plan of the site are required.

Fees apply, please refer to the current list of charges.

 

Personal Searches

 

From 5 January 2026, all requests for Personal Searches of the Local Land Charges Register will be processed by South Derbyshire District Council.

South Derbyshire District Council will treat all Personal Searches as FOI/EIR (Freedom of Information/Environmental Information Request) requests and, therefore, the Personal Search results will consist of a search of the electronic Local Land Register only. Results may conflict with previous search results. The results revealed from the search will not be compared against any previous searches and no additional checking will be carried out. The search result will copy what is currently held on the Register only to comply with FOI/EIR. Personal Searches are not backed by the Council's insurance and are not compiled or checked by Officers. The Council has no responsibility for any omission or misinterpretation by the Search Requestor. Personal Searches, when processed, will be returned within 20 (twenty) business days from receipt of the request.

All requests must be submitted by email to land.charges@southderbyshire.gov.uk only. The full postal address of the land or property must be included and accompanied by a plan of the site indicating the boundary using a red outline.

The Personal Search result includes:

  • the description of the Charge;
  • the date of registration of the Charge;
  • name of the local authority that can answer questions about the Charge.

All enquiries relating to the Local Land Charges Register should be made by email to: land.charges@southderbyshire.gov.uk

 

CON29 Enquiries

 

Some CON29 questions can be answered by researching public documents available on the South Derbyshire District Council website.  Please see the attached Schedule for more information (docx, 35kb) and an Enquiry Form (xlsx, 13kb) which can be used to request information.

 

Derbyshire County Council Personal Searches

 

Help for undertaking personal searches. (pdf, 135kb)