When purchasing a property, it's crucial to conduct a thorough property search to uncover any potential issues that could affect your investment. These issues can range from planned developments like motorways near your property to restrictions on land usage or building modifications due to listed or conservation status.
Your solicitor or estate agent will normally carry out a property search for you.
Property searches might also be performed when you are taking out a second mortgage on your property.
What property searches can uncover
A search could uncover land charges which restrict how you can use the land, including conditions specified as part of planning permission, orders against what kinds of fuel you can burn at the property, or whether the property is in a conservation area, meaning you have to maintain its period features.
Request a property search
Knowsley Council’s Property Search Information Service inspects all registers relating to your property and produces a report of the results, returned by email, post or Document Exchange or collected in person.
VAT on Con29 fees will be imposed from 1 January 2017.
Search registers in person
You are able to book a free inspection search online. This allows you to carry out up to two searches for residential or commercial properties.
When booking, you must provide:
- Name and contact details
- Full postal address of the property or land which is the subject of the search
- A plan of the property clearly outlining the area
The average turnaround for searches is 10 working days.
Changes to Property Search Service
The Council was invited to join the Land Registry’s Local Land Charges Programme for 2021/22. The purpose of the programme is to provide a new Local Land Charges data service which standardises the information from local authorities in one accessible place. This work is now complete and our Local Land Charges Register will shortly be migrated to HM Land Registry’s national register.
From 12 October 2022 you will be able to access the new digital service through the Portal, Business Gateway and on HM Land Registry’s GOV.UK pages. For more information visit GOV.UK.
To avoid any confusion for customers there will be a short transition period beginning on 5 October 2022 where we will no longer provide a local land charges (LLC1) search service prior to the new HM Land Registry local land charges service coming on stream on 12 October 2022.
Changes to our Property Search Service
CON29 enquiries
We will continue to provide replies to CON29 enquiries following the local land charges service transfer to HM Land Registry.
It is important to remember that from 5 October 2022 to only submit the required fee of £73.50 (Standard Service) or £115.00 (Premium Service) when submitting a CON29 enquiry.
The Free Inspection service will continue as normal, you will still be required to book an appointment and upload a plan and the CON29 results will be emailed to you on the date of your appointment. You will be notified of any changes if this service is reviewed going forward.
New fees from 1 April 2024
You can choose different types of property searches.
Premium Service Form CON29(R) Enquiries of the Local Authority
£126.49
Standard Service Form CON29(R) Enquiries of the Local Authority
£90.00
Each additional parcel of land
£15.00
CON29(O) “Optional” Enquiries submitted
Each enquiry (4 – 22)
£15.00
Additional solicitor
Own enquiry (per enquiry)
The fee will be notified to the enquirer by the relevant answering department prior to the response.
All charges are inclusive of VAT charged at the appropriate rate.
Useful information for home buyers
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published guidance on how to buy and sell a home. View these guides on the Gov.uk website.