Website and telephone payments Sunday 19 May
Our website and telephone payment systems are unavailable between 9am and 2pm on Sunday 19 May. You will not be able to pay for any council services on our website or over the phone during this time.
A local land charge is a restriction or prohibition imposed on a particular piece of land either to secure the payment of a sum of money or to limit the use of the land. This charge is binding on successive owners and occupiers of the land.
In most cases, when a property or parcel of land is purchased, leased, mortgaged or a valuation is carried out, a request for a local land charges search is sent to the relevant local authority. This request for a search is usually (but not always) submitted by a solicitor or licensed conveyancer.
We undertake searches on individual properties - usually on behalf of prospective purchasers - to identify any town planning, statutory orders, highways, housing and environmental health matters which might impact the property.
How do I apply for a search?
All searches must be emailed to land_charges.ham@northyorks.gov.uk or through an online search provider.
You must provide:
- the full postal address of the property you wish to search on
- the full postal address for your firms, so we can invoice for the fee
- an up-to-date OS location plan showing the search site marked with a red line boundary
We do not accept searches through the post.
What paperwork is required?
In order to carry out a search, we require the completion of a Con29R/Con29O form and submission of a good quality OS-style plan with the search site marked with a red line boundary.
Fees
Fees from 1 April 2024:
| Con29(R) | Net fee | VAT | Total |
| Basic search | £105.00 | £21.00 | £126.00 |
| Question 1.1 J-L | £9.00 | £1.80 | £10.80 |
| Question 3.10 B-H | £6.00 | £1.20 | £7.20 |
| Questions 4, 21 | £22.50 | £4.50 | £27.00 |
| Questions 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 |
£15.00 | £3.00 | £18.00 |
| Question 22 | £30.00 | £6.00 | £36.00 |
| Additional parcel | £15.00 | £3.00 | £18.00 |
| Pre-1974 search | £13.50 | £2.70 | £16.20 |
Con29
The Con29 contains two parts and answers a set of standard enquiries that potential buyers may want to know before purchasing. The first part, the Con29R is information that the authority is required to provide and reveals issues such as:
- planning history - 1974 - present day
- building control history - 2001 - present day
- environmental health - 2004 - 2021
- contaminated land - 2001 - present day
- who maintains the roads the property is on
- traffic schemes
- compulsory purchase orders
- proposed tree preservation orders
- other notices that may affect the property
The second part, the Con29O is a set of optional enquiries that can be requested by the customer (at an additional charge) Some mortgage lenders may require these additional searches as they can include information regarding:
- road proposals
- public footpaths
- noise abatement orders
- pollution notices
- common land and village greens
OS location plan
The OS location plan should be up to date, display at least two named roads and mark the site location with a complete red line boundary.
Box C
Box C of the Con29R form is a free text space for customers to nominate up to three additional roads to be checked as part of their requested search. These roads need to be identified either by name (the name must also be clearly displayed on the plan provided) or by marking the roads with colour and mentioning the colour in Box C.
The importance of plans
As the name suggests, a location plan is used to determine the location of a search site. Any search submitted with a poor quality or unacceptable plan will be rejected and returned, causing a delay in the search process. Any developer's plot plan must be accompanied by a location plan and the two can be submitted together to us. Ultimately, the better the quality of the plan provided, the better the quality of the answer we can return with.
Advice on completing Box C (pdf / 56 KB)
We no longer accept searches by post and with cheques attached.
Personal searches
Personal searches will be obtained from HM Land Registry after the completion of a data transfer project.
Further information
For further information please contact us.
Alternatively, there is a helpful article on the government website.