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Important Message

Please be advised our Customer Contact phone lines are experiencing high call volumes and wait times may be longer than usual. If you call through to our team, please utilise our call back service after waiting 60 seconds. This will keep your number virtually in the queue and as soon you become first in the queue, we will call you back. Alternatively please consider emailing us or visiting our website to use our range of self-service options that are available.

Personal Searches

Information and guidance about personal searches and unrefined CON29 enquiries

Personal Searches

A personal search may be conducted by anyone, but in practice these are usually done by private companies.

Access to the local land charges register and planning records will be made available to anyone requesting a personal search via an appointment system.

Both the local land charges register and, as per Rule 7 of the Local Land Charges Rules 1977, conditional planning consents are held on the planning register.  Both of these can be accessed when attending an appointment.

An appointment to view the registers can be made via the local land charges team.  Appointments are currently set up for 3 hour slots on a first come first served basis on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (9.30am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 5pm).  Appointments exclude bank holidays and any period the offices are closed to the public between 25 December and 1 January each year.

Personal searchers will not be limited in the number of searches they wish to undertake within the three hour slots.  Appointments will not be permitted to run beyond the times detailed above even where search companies attend the council offices to undertake their searches after the commencement of the appointment time. 

A member of staff is available for assistance at most times.  Any limitations arising from staffing levels, for example staff shortages due to annual leave/sickness will be explained when booking the appointment.  However, this will be the exception rather than the norm.

To make an appointment to inspect the local land charges register please email the local land charges team or telephone 01205 314242.

At the time of making the appointment the name and contact details of the personal search company and the address details of the property or properties to be searched must be provided.

If an appointment is no longer required, please email the local land charges team so that the appointment can be made available for other users of the service.

It is the responsibility of the person carrying out the personal search to identify relevant information from the register and make any notes.  Local land charges staff may offer factual clarification of what is available but are under no obligation to answer any supplementary or additional enquiries.

Access to information for Unrefined CON29 enquiries

All searches, including Unrefined Con29 data requests, are dealt with in date order and will be emailed back to the search requester when all relevant information has been gathered and the local land charges team have completed final checks.

Before an Unrefined Con29 search can be processed the local land charges team will require a completed unrefined data application form along with a location plan showing the property or land to be searched clearly marked in red.