Since the new regulations came into effect on 6th April 2009 making it compulsory for Local Authorities to give access to property information, there has been a vast spectrum of systems and charges created by Local Authorities to cope. The procedures set out by councils enabling people to gain access to the information range from the very simple, e.g. turn up at a building, sit at a computer, record the information and leave, to the most complicated systems imaginable. Likewise the charges also differ massively ranging from, free to over three hundred pounds.
In many cases the job of accessing this information has now become almost impossible and we have created this post to enable you to leave comments on your findings with specific Local Authorities either good or bad. Please click the button below to either view comments left by others or post a new one. It will help if you name the council, but please be certain that your statement is correct.
Comment by Helen Brownbridge — April 22, 2009 @ 11:01 am
I visit approx. 16 councils some more than others, the six councils of cornwall have supposedly become one… but all their systems vary greatly, the best council by far, out of the sixteen is EXETER City. A couple of telephone calls followed up with an email and all the information is given over. The new charges….none.
The head of Land Charges informs me that having done a complete cost breakdown, they have had to put up their charges for completing a postal/computerised LLC1/CON29 but for the personal searcher at the moment they cannot justify it and are sitting back watching the chaos ensue around them.
Comment by David Hughes — April 22, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
Our local authority’s are being reaonable apart from Great Yarmouth who are bundling the charges and charging an extra £29.00 to get the required information.Yes a letter of complaint has been sent
Comment by jeremy tyler — April 22, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
I have sent off many emails and letters to the Councils of Essex. Harlow want £43 just for building regs. I am challenginf this, but they dont get back to me. We have had results with Thurrock and Havering who were charging for bundles and now are not, great thing pressure!!!
Generally the charges arent too high individually, Brentwood is £26 for the whold of the information. London Boroughs are quite high. Harlow have bundled theirs into three packages but give you a discount if you buy all three, thought it was cost recovery?
Comment by Matt Markham — April 22, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
I deal with about 10 local authorities. By far the best are Stockport MBC who are giving ALL information free (this may change apparently)and also holding training courses on how to get the information. A pity other councils don’t follow suit:
Manchester CC- Bundling questions and only supplying refined data in many cases.
Cheshire East - Admin charges, general unhelpfulness of staff, who incidently were very helpful up until April 6th!!
High Peak - Well they provide the info free of charge but at 3 different offices…if I were to visit them it would be a 140 mile round trip. For this reason I’ve just had to reject a new client as I can’t provide a service at the current rate….or compete with the council!
Comment by Ben Naylor — April 22, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
Who would have thought it, little old Derby City Council coming out on top as our favourite council. Every single question is broken down with a separate fee. This is still not what we want but they are a hell of a lot better than Leicester City Council, who have bundled everything together and do not allow you to view anything unless the Land Charges department give it to you!
Comment by Stuart Richards — April 22, 2009 @ 2:36 pm
I deal with about a dozen councils, they all vary in price from about £3.50 to £36.00 for the extra information. Many bundle. Some are very helpful such as Tower Hamlets who phoned me up to tell me I did not need to pay for a certain Question because I could get it free from their planning department. On the other hand London Borough of Camden make you buy the complete Con29 for About£85. I have asked them why they are ignoring the regulations but surprise, suprise no reply.
Comment by Hamish — April 22, 2009 @ 8:14 pm
There really are some wondrous war stories that given time I will pass back but my favourite at the moment have yo be Aylesbury Vale.
Naturally the battle still ensues but their letter spells out to everyone that they have established a ONE STOP SHOP for which they naturally have additional charges for what was free & accessible information!
Super idea.
Question “Oh so you have the Local Plan, Street Register, Conservation Area Register etc etc.”
Answer “On NO………. we don’t have those sort of facilities here! You’ve still got to go to the other office (quarter to half a mile away)”
“And well if you want to know that you have to book an appointment and go into (yet another)
the Highways Office”
now that really is a ONE STOP SHOP
Comment by Hamish — April 22, 2009 @ 8:23 pm
just had to share this one
Chiltern, just down the road from Aylesbury, advise in their glorious array of information/access etc that the only way that Enforcement Notices could be obtained was by “specially compiled” and naturally chargeable information.
Somewhat intrigued I sent off an email asking what had happened to the Stop & Enforcement Registers that were always available at Reception. - A few minutes later the response was returned via email, “oh yes they’re still in the same place”
If anyone can sort that one for me do please send me an email and explain
Comment by Jon Coupland — April 22, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
The HM Govt. really have not thought this through, with no standard or recognisable pricing evident from council to council this will only lead to a confused market and it will be the man on the street, the end user who suffers, its just making life difficult for all concerned. It would appear that some of the councils have stuck their finger in the air and plucked out a figure that appears to fit a sum that somebody up the line has dreamt up, much of the info should be freely available with no restrictions on access, the councils are in my opinion abusing the right to hold the information.
I was getting all the required info from Darlington Borough Council free of charge with little fuss, but that all changed a few months ago when I was denied access to the building regulations information, I knew there was a rabbit away, strangely enough now that they have introduced the new pricing they will let me have them, at a cost!
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are a nightmare, now and historically, even the info they have published as free to access they want to charge for, what’s that all about!!?
Comment by peter — April 23, 2009 @ 10:29 am
Why should personal search companies who use the information provided for commercial purposes expect it to be provided free, effectively meaning that their business is being subsidised by council tax payers? And why is there a reference to the information “now” being available inferring that this is something new? Non-public register information has previously been available from most local authorities but personal search companies have, it seems, chosen not to pay for it and have used their insurance cover to justify supplying incomplete search answers to their customers.
Comment by Ian Henry — April 23, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
I Have today collected the results of a RAW DATA SEARCH from Gwynedd Council for which I was charged £42.00
This report is supposed to answer all the questions in Con29
Question 3.4 (a-f) was answerd Not so far as is known
Question 3.6 (a-l)was answerd Not so far as is known
Question 3.7 (e)was answerd Not so far as is known
when I asked why we didnt have a yes or no answer i was told they did it to cover themselves and this was the way they answered in an official search
Am missing something here
Comment by Sue — April 24, 2009 @ 12:27 pm
Looking at Hamish’s post (number 8), it looks as though some clarification may he helpful.
The Enforcement and Stop Notice register is available for inspection, as it has always been, but it won’t (and never has done) provide the information needed for 3.9.
Under the HIP Regulations questions 3.1 to 3.13 relate to information not shown on the relevant registers. This relates to notices, orders etc that are not on the registers, including action that may be in the process of being undertaken and therefore not yet on a register. Sometimes this information may be available by looking at committee minutes but not always, for example an authorisation given under powers delegated to an officer.
Currently the only way to access this type of information is by a compiled report.
Comment by Nick — April 24, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
We received an ‘Official Search,’ LLC1 & Con29R, back from Ashfield District Council. They have answered questions 3.7 a-f & 3.11 with the response ‘Not so far as known’.
It would therefore appear that Local Authorities can answer in anyway they choose but personal search companies cannot.
Comment by nick snr — April 24, 2009 @ 1:01 pm
In reply to Peter post 10, Good search companies have always obtained what ever information was available. It was a Hip regulation that required the insurance to cover unavailable information. Some councils would not give personal search companies the info, nor would some even sell the information. Due to this and complaints from personal search companies the regulations were changed and obliged local authorities to provide the information. Most chose to charge for it.
As for personal search companies being subsidised, this is not the case. The local authority search is subsidised. The rate payer pays for the council to collect and store the info, The builder, developer, surveyor or architect pays for planning applications and building control work which is to collate the info and make it available for the public. However having already been paid to collect and store the info for the public they then charge to produce it in the form of a local search, Conversely we are not subsidised and have to go to the local authority to find the information, and pay for it, on behalf of the public. We then charge the public for our work and this charge is generally less than the local authority would charge. Until Pali revolutionised the search industry local authorities were charging up to £300 and taking up to twelve weeks to produce a search. If it was lost in the post through no fault of the purchaser they had to pay to have it reproduced. Great service. Due to the competition personal search companies have introduced, local authorities have dragged themselves into the twenty first century. Their service is better, their charges are coming down and their attitude is improving. They still find it difficult to compete with the personal search companies so they put charges and obstacles in the way.
Nick.
Comment by Steven Milne — April 24, 2009 @ 1:16 pm
Regarding the post made by Peter “Why should personal search companies who use the information provided for commercial purposes expect it to be provided free, effectively meaning that their business is being subsidised by council tax payers?”
This information is the tax payers information, me, you and every other person that has contributed to this thread. The reason why there is a charge there is for the person to inspect the records. Most search companies have simply added the council charges to the total HIP cost. Joe public pays for planning permission then he has to pay again to see the planning permission… that is simply wrong!
Comment by Ben Oliver — April 24, 2009 @ 4:03 pm
I agree with the posts above stating the problems of how a member of the public has to pay for the collection and storing of data relating to planning permissions etc, and then is charged again when having to inspect this information. It is clearly a dual burden rule that needs addressing.
With regards to good and bad councils. I think the best for us have to be Wakefield, who are always helpful and provide all information for the Con29r for £18. However the worst for us appears to be Bradford council who are charging £96. To say these councils are 15miles apart from each other, it is hard to justify to customers the difference in prices.
Comment by Mark Smith — April 27, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
Just to add to Sue’s comments (12 above), it’s also worth being aware that Compulsory Purchase Orders (Question 3.11) are not actually shown in the Local Land Charges Register, because it seems that they are not registerable. This leaves the CON29R as the only source of this information to a purchaser.
People may not be aware of this fact, but this is potentially the most costly area on a search if a claim is made because something has not been revealed on the seller’s search.
Comment by Jordan Canter — April 28, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
Further to Ben’s comment (16) it really is a case of different councils charging what they want to and without regard to the guidelines set in place for them to follow. I have West Dorset council who will happily supply me with information bar highways and building regs fro the £11.00 and a small fee for buildings. I also have Bournemouth Council who I pay the £11.00 for land charges, £1.80 per question and then regardless of the amount of questions I ask plonk a £16.50 collation charge on top! These are unfair charges and need to be looked at!