The Local Land Charges Service is available for those purchasing property and land within the Malvern Hills District boundary. The purpose of the service is to disclose to the prospective purchaser information which may affect a particular property or plot of land.

The Land Charges team maintain a Register which is updated daily in order to provide answers to Search requests using information obtained from the relevant parts of the Council such as Planning, Environmental Services and Highways.

The Local Land Search is in TWO parts:
The first part is called the LLC1 which is the legal document relating to all the registerable charges; for example, financial charges (registered against a property/properties or land by the Authority), improvement/renovation grants, tree preservation orders, conservation areas, enforcement notices, smoke control and noise abatement orders and planning applications which have been approved with conditions as from 1 August 1977.

The second part known as the CON29 is a standard form of Enquiries relating to planning, highways, and environmental history, which may affect the property/land.

There is also a CON29 Part II which contains questions but these require an additional fee and only need to be requested if you or your Solicitor thinks it necessary.  They include footpaths, highway and pipeline questions to name a few.

Additional written enquiries can also be requested at the same time as the search application but these also require an additional fee.  If a request for an additional written enquiry is received following the return of the search this will incur a larger fee.

Information provided in response to a Search with Enquiries, which is part of the conveyancing procedure, is set down in legislation and in standard questions agreed between the Law Society and Local Government organisations.

Submission of Searches
Both the LLCl and CON29 should be submitted in duplicate at the same time if answers to both are required.  You can submit searches in two different ways:-

Electronically
We are connected to NLIS Level 3 (this is when your search application is transmitted electronically directly into our  searches system) .  You can carry out your search electronically via the Web using the National Land Information System (NLIS) Hub  at a discounted fee, and we will guarantee turnaround time of less than 10 days.  You will also save on paper, DX cost and time.  Details of these search fees are available when you register with one of the NLIS Hub channel providers.  Registration is free of charge – see addresses below

• www.searchflow.co.uk
• www.tmproperty.co.uk
• www.transaction-online.co.uk
• www.jordansproperty.co.uk

In paper form through the postal or the Document Exchange service
Search requests should include the following:

1. The correct fee in the form of a cheque made payable to Malvern Hills District Council
2. An accurate full postal address of the property to be searched against.
3. Two plans based on Ordnance Survey maps showing the boundary of the property/land to be searched against clearly marked in red.
4. The full return postal address in the box provided on the form LLC1.

      Our target turnaround times are 10 working days or less from receipt to dispatch.

All searches are returned by First Class mail or the Document Exchange system.

Personal Search Applications
Anyone wishing to undertake a Personal Search of the Local Land Charges Register/Council Statutory Registers may do so within normal office hours, i.e. 9am to 5pm Monday to Fridays. There is a statutory charge of £11 for a search of the Local Land Charges Register and it is necessary to make an appointment giving 48 hours notice. Information from this register and other statutory registers of the Council are available at The Customer Service Centre at The Library, Graham Road, Malvern, WR14 2HU (Tel: 01684 862151)

NOTE: No LLC1 or CON29 document is completed by Local Land Charges staff at the time of the personal search

Current Search Fees

Is the property within the Malvern Hills District?
If you are unsure if the property is within the Malvern Hills District you may find the following link to the Valuation Office website www.voa.gov.uk useful. You can locate the property by Post Code or address and confirm the correct Local Authority to submit your search to.

Home Information Packs (HIPS)

The Government, under the new Housing Act has decided that all residential properties in England and Wales put up for sale will have a Home Information Pack (HIP) (Scotland and Northern Ireland already have these).  Our information, at the present time, is that as from 1^st August, 2007, this will relate to 4 bedroom properties or larger and the remainder of properties will be phased in at a later date.

The person marketing homes for sale will have a legal duty to have the pack prepared to show anyone who wants to see it.  The person marketing the property is likely to be either the Estate Agent or the homeowner.  The Government says that the main purpose of the ‘HIP’ is to enable buyers to make ‘informed decisions’ so that there is less chance of a sale falling through after an offer is agreed.

The Information Pack will contain (amongst other things) legal information about the property, to include a Local Land Charge Search Request (available from the Local Authority).   This is currently used by people buying a property, to discover certain types of information about the property and its environment that might affect its value or their enjoyment of it.  

The regulations state that the Local Land Charges Search should be no older than 3 months at the first point of marketing.  As many house sales take longer than this, Malvern Hills District Council will have the facility to do a ‘refresh search’ for a reduced fee (fee to be set) providing this has been done within 12 months of the original search being carried out.

To find out more about HIPS go to www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk