Find out about searches on a property

You will need to complete a Local Land Charge search if you are remortgaging or buying property or land. A search will help to find out if there are any matters affecting the property or piece of land. 

Usually, your solicitor will request this document on your behalf.

Searches are normally carried out in 2 parts:

LLC1 Certificate of Search

The LLC1 Certificate of search is an official search of the Local Land Charges Register. It deals with all charges such as:

• planning conditions
• tree preservation orders
• planning agreements
• listed buildings
• some enforcement issues
• housing grants
• financial charges 

From 14^th September 2026 Guildford Borough Council will no longer provide results for LLC1 searches.
Searches will be provided by HM Land Registry. For more information please visit GOV.UK to find Local Land Charges (opens new window).

CON29 Form

The CON29 Form is made up of a series of standard enquiries of the local authority, agreed by the Law Society.

They deal with issues such as:

• road schemes
• planning history
• environmental matters

The CON29 is split into:

• CON29 -  required questions  
• CON29O - optional questions

Contaminated Land Searches

To find out if land is contaminated, you may wish to carry out a contaminated land enquiry instead.

Private land ownership and property boundaries

We do not have information on private land ownership or property boundaries. Enquiries about these should be made on the the HM Land Registry website (opens new window).

From 14^th September 2026 Guildford Borough Council will no longer provide results for personal searches of the Local Land Charges Register.  Searches will be provided by HM Land Registry. For more information visit GOV.UK and search for Local Land Charges (opens new window).

We can do an official search to find out what Local Land Charges apply to your property.  There are many benefits to doing an official search:

• trained council staff have experience in carrying out searches
• all searches are certified as correct by Guildford Borough Council
• we can find information that does not appear on the Local Land Charges register. This information is provided in the answers to the CON29 form.
• lots of this information is held in our own records and not all of it is available to the public
• we aim to provide 95 per cent of official Local Land Charges search results within three working days

If you wish to carry out a Personal Search on a property, email the address of the property and a plan to landcharges@guildford.gov.uk.  The Local Land Charges register for the property will then be emailed too you.   Please allow three working days for us to respond.

From 14^th September 2026 Guildford Borough Council will no longer provide results for personal searches of the Local Land Charges Register.
Searches will be provided by HM Land Registry. For more information please visit GOV.UK and search for Local Land Charges. (opens new window)

This type of search means you will only find information which would be on an LLC1 Form. You will not find all CON29 information, but you can look through statutory registers, including:

• the planning register
• the highways register

CON29 Information can be given to you at a cost of £8.00 per question. You can let us know your questions in your email.

Environmental Information Regulations

The law states you can access any environmental information we hold for free. This includes some of the registers we use to answer  CON29 questions. To search this information, complete our online support form (opens new window) or call us on 01483 505050.
You'll need to book an appointment to view the register electronically at our office. Appointments can be made between 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Not all environmental information is dealt with by the Customer and Case Services Team. To answer  CON29 questions, make a formal request to our Information Rights Officer instead.

Make a request to view environmental information.

From 14^th September 2026 Guildford Borough Council will no longer provide results for personal searches of the Local Land Charges Register.
Searches will be provided by HM Land Registry. For more information visit GOV.UK and search for Local Land Charges (opens new window).

Our fees depend on the use of a property. A residential property is one in which someone lives. A commercial property is a property owned or used by a business or a piece of land which does not contain any buildings.

Official Search fees:

CON29O

The CON29O Form is for specific questions you may have.

Questions about the following cost £31 each:

• road proposals by private bodies (4) 
• flood defence and land drainage consents (21)
• common land and town or village greens (22)

Questions about the following cost £16 each:

• advertisements (5)
• completion notices (6)
• parks and countryside (7)
• pipelines (8)
• houses in multiple occupation (9)
• noise abatement (10)
• urban development areas (11)
• enterprise zones, local development orders and business improvement districts (12)
• inner urban improvement areas (13)
• simplified planning zones (14)
• land maintenance notices (15)
• mineral consultation and safeguarding areas (16)
• hazardous substance consents (17)
• environmental and pollution notices (18)
• food safety notices (19)
• hedgerow notices (20) 

Any additional parcels of land you want us to search cost £24 each. 

Please send questions about highways to Surrey County Council (opens new window) and drainage enquiries to Thames Water (opens new window).

To arrange an official search, you'll need to provide:

• the necessary forms - LLC1 and CON29 (your solicitor will normally apply on your behalf or can provide you with the forms)
• an up-to-date plan of the property which clearly shows the boundaries

Email the forms and plan to landcharges@guildford.gov.uk and pay for them with our online form.

Pay for an offical Local Land Charges search

We aim to complete an official search within three working days. If you need us to do a search urgently, contact us on 01483 505050. We'll do our best to get you the results as soon as possible.

A number of search companies can make the search for you. Visit the Visit the National Land Information Service website (opens new window) or the TM website for more information