The Land Charges unit process local searches on land and property within the Stafford Borough area. To keep pace with the changes in the property market it is essential your Local Land Charge service provides its customers with what they want and require to help with the smooth transition through the buying and selling process. Stafford Borough Council Land Charge service welcomes comments and suggestions on how we can improve our service.
This unit maintains the Stafford Borough Register of Local Land Charges. Details of all charges against a parcel or parcels of land or property within the Stafford Borough area are registered with this unit.
The Land Charge service fees, calculated in accordance with guidance issued in 2007 by the Department of Constitutional Affairs are fair, reasonable and comparable within the market place, giving our customers an excellent, value for money service.
Please note we are no longer able to take cash payments at the Civic Centre.
| Local Land Charges - Residential | £ - p | VAT |
| One Parcel of Land (including official LLC1) | 95.00 | NB |
| Each additional parcel | 10.00 | NB |
| LLC1 | 25.00 | NB |
| Standard Enquiries Con29R | 70.00 | NB |
| Separately Priced Enquiries | ||
| Highways | 30.00 | NB |
| Planning and Building Regulations | 30.00 | NB |
| Environmental | 15.00 | NB |
| Con29 Optional | ||
| each printed enquiry | 25.00 | NB |
| each additional enquiry | 25.00 | NB |
| Local Land Charges - Commercial | £ - p | VAT |
| One Parcel of Land (including official LLC1) | 165.00 | NB |
| Each additional parcel | 15.00 | NB |
| LLC1 | 30.00 | NB |
| Standard Enquiries Con29R | 135.00 | NB |
| Separately Priced Enquiries | ||
| Highways | 30.00 | NB |
| Planning and Building Regulations | 70.00 | NB |
| Environmental | 35.00 | NB |
| Con29 Optional | ||
| each printed enquiry | 30.00 | NB |
| each additional enquiry | 30.00 | NB |
| Personal Searches | Nil | Nil |
| Copy of Land Charges Register | 10.00 | NB |
| Invoice Administration Fee | 15.00 | NB |
When you buy a house, your solicitor or agent will require a Local Authority (LA) search to ensure there are no hidden surprises, such as motorways at the bottom of your garden or outstanding Notices requiring you to take action to remedy an earlier wrong doing.
The Local Land Charge Section carries out all official searches covered by the Local Land Charges Act 1975, guaranteeing comprehensive replies to the official LLC1 and CON29R enquiries.
The Law Society, which regulates solicitors, encourages the use of official searches and considers that alternative personal searches of the statutory register, disclosing only limited information, should only be undertaken with the approval of the client when time does not permit official searches. You are advised to confirm with your solicitor or agent that an official search has been undertaken and to inspect the Certificate of Official Search (LLC1).
Your Local Authority Search comprises of:-
LLC1 - the Official Certificate of Search Form; this deals with all the registerable charges, for example financial charges (registered against the property by the local authority), improvement grants, tree preservation orders, conditional planning consents and agreements.
CON29R - the Enquiries of Local Authorities Form deals with issues such as road schemes, the planning history of the property and various notices which affect the property.
For an Official Local Authority search to be accepted the following must be included: -
CON29 3.3 (a) and (b) Drainage Agreements and Consents are covered by Stafford Borough Council official search. All other drainage and additional water supply questions should be directed to Severn Trent Water.
Severn Trent Searches
PO Box 10155
Nottingham
NG1 9HQ
DX: 723860 Nottingham 43
Tel: 0115 971 3550
Common Land enquiries as from 1 October 2007 are covered by question 22 of CON29O as an optional question - cost £25.00 residential and £30.00 commercial.
The CON 29 O enquiry form, comprises of 19 optional questions (4 - 22) to the CON29R required questionnaire and are charged at £25.00 each for residential and £30.00 each for commercial. Examples of the questions found on a CON29 O form are given below:
You may also ask a question that is not on the form: if we can answer the question we will, but we may not have the information you want. There is a charge of £30.00 for every additional question we answer. Examples of extra questions are given below:
Where planning consents have been issued subject to conditions, please confirm that all the conditions have been complied with.
Is the authority aware of, or does it have information in its possession regarding, the presence or possible presence of pollutants or contaminants at the property or any adjacent land?
The CON 29 R enquiries questionnaire, which forms part of the official search, contains many 'Warning' questions, the answers to which you will not find on any of the statutory registers.
Examples of the information only to be found by submitting a CON 29 R are given below:-
There are full instructions on the Local Land Charge Search forms. Your solicitor will have these forms or you can buy them from law stationers.
Both the LLC1 and CON29 forms should be submitted at the same time if answers to both are required.
Examples of the LLC1 and CON29 forms.
We aim to return all official searches within 5 working days and in any case within 10 working days.
DX: 723321 Stafford 7
