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District Council joins Local Land Charges Service

Posted on: Monday, October 4, 2021

Newark and Sherwood District Council has successfully migrated its local land charges (LLC) data onto HM Land Registry’s central digital register, becoming the first local authority in Nottinghamshire to do so.

The move will make it easier and quicker for property owners and developers to make informed decisions about their projects, due to the immediate availability of LLC data.

From Tuesday 26 October 2021, customers wishing to access LLC data in the Newark and Sherwood area will need to use the Search for Local Land Charges service on the GOV.UK website.  

To assist with the migration, from 12noon on 15 October 2021 the District Council will no longer accept requests for a search of the Local Land Charges register. However it will continue to provide replies to Con29 enquiries.

LLC searches are normally required in the property-buying process. Most local land charges are restrictions or prohibitions on the use of the property. These charges most commonly take the form of planning permissions, but can also cover listed buildings, conservation areas or other protected statuses. An LLC search will reveal whether a property is subject to a charge.

Through migrating this LLC data onto HM Land Registry’s centralised Register, customers will see quicker property transactions and have access to a fully digital dataset to help support the local housing market and investment decisions. It will also allow organisations to use the data in new and innovative ways - driving innovation in the UK property sector.

Users of this new service will also benefit from:

  • the length of time to receive results reducing from days or weeks to seconds
  • information in a standardised, easy-to-read, digital format
  • online access available 24/7
  • properties searchable by text-based address and by geographical location
  • added spatial information offering greater assurance about the boundaries of each charge
  • official search results offering unlimited repeat searches for six months and a search history dashboard that gives access to previous searches

This migration represents the culmination of many months of effort from both the District Council and HM Land Registry’s LLC team and with the added challenges that coronavirus posed for local authorities, the delivery of this migration has added significance.

Roger Blaney, Chairman of Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Planning Committee, said: “We’re eager to migrate to the HM Land Registry’s Local Land Charges Service and believe it will be beneficial to the residents in the district. It will be much quicker for property transactions to take place and thus making it easier for people to search for properties.”

Allison Bradbury, Head of Local Land Charges Implementation at HM Land Registry, said: “Resilience has always been at the heart of creating a local land charges service fit for a digital age. With the challenges that lockdown has brought for local authorities and the wider economy it is more important than ever that homebuyers and the conveyancing sector have reliable access to LLC data for their area.

“Customers will benefit from a fully accessible service going forward as local economies look to recover and build for the future”

For more information, or for any queries you have about HM Land Registry’s LLC service, please get in touch with the team directly at llcproject@landregistry.gov.uk