What's a Local Land Charge?
A local land charge is a legal restriction or obligation placed on a property or piece of land by a public authority. These charges are usually related to approved planning with conditions, conservation, environmental protection, or financial liabilities—such as conditions attached to planning permissions, listed building status, or tree preservation orders.
Local land charges are binding on successive owners, meaning they stay with the land or property regardless of who owns it. Because they may not be visible from simply inspecting the land or its title deeds, they are recorded in the Local Land Charges Register (also known as an LLC1) to ensure transparency for buyers, sellers, and legal professionals.
Before buying a property or piece of land, it's important to carry out a local land charges search to check for any restrictions, enforcements or obligations that could affect its use or value.
In a local land charge search, you will come across the term ‘Con29’. Con29 is a standard set of questions which are usually made when searching on a property, you can include additional questions, known as Con29O.
The date of issue for a land charge result is 6 months from the date printed on the result from the land charge department. It is essential to keep this in mind when dealing with land transactions or legal matters related to the site / property.
