Request a Local Authority Search

We are responsible for providing Local Authority Searches, an important part of the conveyancing process when buying a residential or commercial property.

Searches provide information on land charges, or restrictions which apply to a piece of land, and any properties which are on it. 

Typical examples of what a local authority search may reveal 

The types of land charges that may affect a property include the following:

• Whether we maintain any roads which are connected to the property, or they are in private ownership
• Road schemes affecting the property
• Planning decisions affecting the property
• Any contamination issues affecting the land
• Building regulations affecting the property
• Any financial or non-financial local land charges registered against the property or land

Details of these are in the Local Land Charges Register, which we maintain, or in other data that is not yet publicly available.

There are two levels of service available, as follows:

Official Local Authority Search

A full Local Authority Search is a statutory process and includes insurance cover, so that you have protection against any losses, if information is missing or incorrect. The search will usually consist of two completed forms, the LLC1 and CON29:

• LLC1 - Restrictions in the Local Land Charges Register on land or property
• CON29 - Enquiries of the local authority, which may include items such as building regulations and planning applications.

From 13 January 2026 we will no longer provide LLC1 searches, although we will continue to answer Con 29 enquiries as normal. 

After this date, our Local Land Charges Register will be migrated to HM Land Registry's national register. You will be able to access the new digital service through Portal, Business Gateway and on HM Land Registry's Gov.uk pages.

We will continue to provide replies to Con29 enquiries.

It is important to remember to only submit the required Con 29 fee when submitting a CON29 enquiry to us after 13 January 2026.

Your conveyancing solicitor may organise a full local authority search for you and request payment from you directly.

Component Data Request

The Local Land Charges Register and parts of the CON29 data are publicly available, and you may prefer to search the Register and CON29 data yourself or via a personal search agent. You can do this at Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Services (see full instructions below on how to do this). If you choose to do this, there will be some CON29 data that is held privately, which you cannot access. For this, you will need to make a component data request, meaning that you will only have to pay for the information that you still need.

A personal searcher is able to inspect certain public registers.The information obtained by a personal search agent from public registers is not guaranteed by the Local Authority, and any compensation claim has to be made through the Personal Search Company you have used.

Select the service you require, to find out more about what's involved and how much you will have to pay.

Official Local Authority Search

Apply online

You can use our online form to request official searches. You will need the following information before you can request a search:

• the address of the property you wish to search for
• a plan showing the extent of the property

Choose the search option you require on the form: CON29 (standard) or Stone mine enquiry.

We will return your search results to you by email, usually within three working days.

By post

You can apply by post, but you will need to download copies of the CON29 and CON29O forms. Please note that these are statutory forms, and there is a charge for downloading copies. Send your completed forms to Land Charges, Bath & North East Somerset Council, Lewis House, Manvers Street, Bath BA1 1JG.

Fees and charges

A Local Authority Search will provide responses to questions 1 to 3.15 of the CON29 form as standard.

Search type	Residential	Commercial
CON29 enquiries	£105	£132
Additional enquiries	£26.75	£26.75
CON29 additional parcels of land (each)	£26	£32
Stone mine enquiry	£37.50	£37.50

There are additional charges for optional questions on the CON29O form.

CON29O Question	Fee (inc VAT)
Question 4 - road proposals by private bodies	£2.70
Question 5 - advertisements	£9.00
Question 6 - completion notices	£3.84
Question 7 - parks and countryside	£2.16
Question 8 - pipelines	£2.46
Question 9 - houses in multiple occupation (HMO)	£3.00
Question 12 - Local Development Orders & bids	£5.16
Question 15 - land maintenance notices	£5.04
Question 16 - mineral consultation areas	£2.22
Question 17 - hazardous substance consents	£2.22
Question 18 - environmental and pollution notices	£10.80
Question 19 - food safety notices	£10.80
Question 20 - hedgerows notices	£16.20
Question 21 - flood defence and land maintenance	£4.50
Question 22 - common land and village greens	£9.60

Component data request

You can carry out searches of the Local Land Charges Register through a personal search agent if you wish. They can do this in our Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Services.The information obtained by a personal search agent from public registers is not guaranteed by the Local Authority. Any compensation claim has to be made through the Personal Search Company who completed the search for you.

They will need to email land_charges@bathnes.gov.uk, and we can set them up with a password to access the register, and provide brief training on how to search it.

They can only view publicly available data in the personal search. To get any of the additional data below, they can request a component data search and send us the correct fee.

We will return the search results to them by email, usually within three working days.

Fees and charges

Component data type	Fee (inc VAT)
Question 3.1 - Is the property included in land required for public purposes?	£1.32
Question 3.2 - Is the property included in land to be acquired for roadworks?	£0.96
Question 3.7b - outstanding environment notice	£0.60
Question 3.7c - outstanding health and safety notice	£0.60
Question 3.7d - outstanding housing notice	£0.60
Question 3.7e - outstanding highways notice	£0.96
Question 3.7f - outstanding public health notice	£0.48
Question 3.9a - an enforcement notice	£0.60
Question 3.9b - a stop notice	£0.60
Question 3.9c - a listed building enforcement notice	£0.60
Question 3.9d - a breach of condition notice	£0.60
Question 3.9e - a planning contravention notice	£0.60
Question 3.9f - another notice relating to breach of planning control	£0.60
Question 3.9g - a listed building repairs notice	£0.60
Question 3.9h - in the case of a listed building deliberately allowed to fall into disrepair, a compulsory purchase order with a direction for minimum compensation	£0.60
Question 3.9i - a building preservation notice	£0.60
Question 3.9j - a direction restricting permitted development	£0.60
Question 3.9k - an order revoking or modifying planning permission	£0.60
Question 3.9l - an order requiring discontinuance of use or alteration or removal of building or works	£0.60
Question 3.9m - a tree preservation order	£0.60
Question 3.9n - proceedings to enforce a planning agreement or planning contribution	£0.60
Question 3.12 - Has any enforceable order or decision been made to compulsorily purchase or acquire?	£2.28

Publicly available Component data

Con 29 question	Available publicly from...	Additional information
Q1.1 - Planning decisions	buildingcontrol.bathnes.gov.uk	None
Q1.1 - Building regulations	buildingcontrol.bathnes.gov.uk	None
Q1.2 - Local plans	bathnes.gov.uk/local-planning-policy-and-guidance	None
Q1.2a-d - Highways	Highway Record is publicly available on PC's at Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Services	None
Q2.2, Q2.3, Q2.4 - Public rights of way	Highway Record is publicly available on PC's at Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Services	None
Q3.4a-l - Road schemes	Highway Record is publicly available on PC's at Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Services
Q3.7a - Building works	Highway Record is publicly available on PC's at Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Services	Follow the instructions as you would normally when carrying out a personal search – TLC, data tab, data, select all, find, select spatial extent, save and close, list results.  You will then be provided with a number of data type records.   If there is a record listed Dangerous Structure - click into this record, the record will show a reference number ending DAN and a field showing the nature of the dangerous structure.   If your property is affected by a dangerous structure please make a note of the reference and email building_control@bathnes.gov.uk for further details. If there is no dangerous structure data record listed against the property being searched the answer to question 3.7a is None
Q3.8 - Contravention of building regulations	Highway Record is publicly available on PC's at Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Services	Follow the instructions as you would normally when carrying out a personal search – TLC, data tab, data, select all, find, select spatial extent, save and close, list results.   You will then be provided with a number of data type records.  If there is a record listed Building Regulation Contravention – click into the record, the record will show a reference number ending UNW and a contravention status.   If the contravention status is REC, please make a note of the reference number and email building_control@bathnes.gov.uk for further details.   If the record status is COM, the notice is complete, you do not need to show this on your search result as the matter is no longer outstanding (if you show the completed record you could be blighting the property).   If the contravention status is blank, please email building_control@bathnes.gov.uk with the reference number for further details. If there is no Building Regulation Contravention data record listed against the property being searched, the answer for question 3.7a is none.
Q3.10a-h - Community infrastructure levy	If a CIL is revealed on the Local Land Charges register direct enquiries 3.10 b-h to  cil@bathnes.gov.uk	3.10a - A Charging Schedule took effect on 6th April 2015.  Link Bath and North East Somerset CIL Charging Schedule April 2015. The current charging schedule and other information regarding Bath and North East Somerset Council's CIL instalment policy and exceptional circumstances policy can be found at bathnes.gov.uk/community-infrastructure-levy-cil-and-your-development.   3.10 b-h Please note only if a CIL is revealed on the Local Land Charges register direct enquiries 3.10 b-h to  cil@bathnes.gov.uk
Q3.11 - Conservation area	bathnes.gov.uk/find-conservation-areas	None
Q3.13 - Contaminated land	This document can be viewed by emailing  contaminated_land@bathnes.gov.uk, to you will need to provide 24 hours notice.	None
Q3.14 - Radon gas	www.ukradon.org	A substantial proportion of Bath & North East Somerset has been identified by the Health Protection Agency and British Geological Survey as a Radon Affected Area. In light of the current information, precautions may be required under building regulations for new buildings and extensions to buildings in the area. An estimate of the probability that an existing individual property is above the action level for radon, and further guidance, can be obtained for a small fee at www.ukradon.org

Component data we do not hold

Con 29 question	Reason we do not hold this data
Q1.1g-i - Planning decisions	None within Bath and North East Somerset
Q3.3a - Drainage	As schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act has not commenced, there is no legal duty or responsibilities on councils who are also Lead Local Flood Authorities, to keep records of any new or existing Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and therefore our records do not allow for the provision of comprehensive answers in relation to this question. We do not have a role in checking final as built drawings and in some cases, SuDS can be implemented without the need to obtain planning permission. Even if planning permission is granted, we have no assurance that the scheme will have been implemented. Furthermore, the Council does not normally adopt SuDS which are on private property unless they are serving public highway. It is strongly advised that the purchaser undertakes their own checks of planning approvals through Planning Online
Q3.3b - Drainage	The Council do not hold details of SuDS features serving individual properties.
Q3.3c - Drainage	The Council does not hold this information. This information may be obtainable from the original developer or current owner. You can order a CON29DW Drainage and Water search from www.wessexsearches.co.uk

Ways to pay

You can pay for your Local Land Register search in the following ways:

BACS

When making a payment by BACS, please enter Land Charges in the reference. Please email us when you have made the BACS payment, and if possible send us a screenshot of the deposit.

• Bank: National Westminster Bank, Bath
• Sort Code: 56 00 34
• Account Number: 57134464
• Account Name: Bath & North East Somerset Council Suspense Account

Monthly invoice account

You can set up a monthly invoice account with us, and we will invoice you for all searches carried out each calendar month. If you would like to set up an account, please email us at land_charges@bathnes.gov.uk.