Local land charges

About local land charges

Local land charges are restrictions on a particular piece of land that councils impose under the terms of various government acts in order either to secure the payment of money, or to limit the use to which the land may be put.

The common types of local land charges include:

• Conditions imposed in a planning permission
• Conservation areas
• Improvement and renovation grants
• Light obstruction notices
• Listed buildings
• Smoke control orders

Anyone who wants to buy a property can find all the local land charges for that property on the local land charges register.

Searching the local land charges register

If you are buying a property, there are two options available to find details of entries on the local land charges register:

• Request an official search by submitting form LLC1. Usually, a conveyancer will carry this out on your behalf
• Carry out a personal search. You can do this yourself or you can use a personal search company. To guarantee accuracy, the Local Land Charges Institute always recommends you use an official local authority search

Before you start, find your local council to check that your search area belongs to us.

Carrying out an official search

You can apply for an official search using the electronic land and property searches portals National Land Information Services (NLIS), TM Group, or InfoTrack. 

Alternatively, you can use our online application form.

The Law Society has published guidance notes which are available on its website.

You will need to pay a fee for an official search. See our local search fees guide below for further information. 

Carrying out a personal search

To search the local land charges register, please use our Local land charges personal search self-service portal.

You can see where the general boundaries of a property are and its local land charges, but you will not have access to additional features of the official search.

The difference between official and personal searches

For an official search (£48) or a personal search (free), you get:

• The description of the local land charge
• The registration date
• Details of the authority that can answer questions about the local land charge

For an official search (£48), you also get:

• An official search certificate, which is tamper-proof, digitally signed, and guaranteed by Rushmoor Borough Council, ensuring its authenticity
• A PDF sent by email
• The search area on a map
• Refined data
• Assistance from our staff 
• 3.17-day turnaround time

A lender may not accept a personal search. See an independent guide to property searches for further information.

Information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 give you the right to access environmental information held by the council.

You can access all the environmental information needed to compile a property search by:

• Carrying out a personal search of the local land charges register (see above)
• Contacting the relevant departments that hold all other data - please see our who holds data under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 web page

The regulations allow up to 20 working days for a response.

For a copy of a document that is very old, there is a £25 collation fee. This covers the staff time taken to retrieve the documentation and send it out to you.

Local search fees guide

The information in this guide is a summary of the local land charges fees rules for England.

We accept BACS, and card payments made online. As work starts immediately on receipt, fees are non-refundable.

Our turnaround time is on average 3.17 days, even during the peak season. If you have an urgent search, contact us to see how we can help.

Contact our land charges team

If you have a question about local land charges applications and services, please contact us using the contact details below.

If you have an enquiry about highways, contact Hampshire County Council's land charges team:

Email: land.charges@hants.gov.uk
Phone: 01962 832199