West Dorset Local Land Charges - local authority searches
All information on this page is for land or properties in the West Dorset District Council boundary. You can check which area your land or property is in if you're not sure.
Submit an online land charges search
Before you start you must include:
Important: Please be aware that a Request ID Number will automatically be generated upon receipt of a new enquiry submitted via the portal, however, this is NOT a Payment Receipt, therefore it is not proof of payment.
We regret searches can only be cancelled on the day of receipt, providing information has not already been entered onto our system. After this time work will have commenced on your application.
Start now
Latest land charges news
West Dorset District Council's Local Land Charges Unit are currently taking up to 10 working days to return a search result, therefore, if you submit a new enquiry before 12 noon on any particular working day then this will be logged onto our system the same day in order to process. If submitted after this time then it will be logged the following working day.
Council vastly improves land searches waiting time
Homebuyers in West Dorset are now benefitting from faster land searches when buying a new property.
West Dorset District Council put an improvement plan in place in 2016 to deal with a backlog of applications for land search.
There were a number of reasons why this happened, including a high volume of requests, but it meant that at times some searches were taking about 10 weeks to process
After carrying out most of the improvement plan, the council is now completing all searches within its target of an average of 15 days.
A new IT system is also being introduced which should help improve the way land searches are processed, which will further improve the speed of carrying out searches.
The improvement plan included recruiting additional people to process applications and improving the way relevant information was held. The council aimed to achieve this by April 2019.
Councillor Peter Barrowcliff, portfolio holder for corporate services at West Dorset District Council, said:
“We’d like to thank people for their patience while we worked to reduce the length of time it took to complete searches. We always knew it would take time for the improvement plan to take effect and we are pleased to have achieved this well within our target date of April 2019. I’d like to thank all the staff who have worked hard to turn this around.
“We now have an efficient process in place with further plans to improve our service in the coming months. This will help ensure our customers continue to receive a fast turnaround, which I’m sure will be welcome in speeding up the overall process of buying a house.”
Additional information:
The council will continue to deal with specific circumstances on a requested basis, i.e. if you need your search as a matter of urgency we operate an urgent search service which is set out below:
Please ask your legal representative to email us at land_charges@dorset.gov.uk with:
- the date when your search was submitted
- details of the property to which the search relates
- the reason(s) for the urgency
Depending on the volume of these enquiries, we will try to consider whether any actions can be taken with regards to these exceptional circumstance requests. Emails sent to any other email addresses may not receive consideration or a response.
Fees
Charges came were introduced on 1 April 2018.
| Search type | Fee | VAT** | Total |
|---|
| LLC1 + CON29 (full search) |
£110 |
£12 |
£122 |
| LLC1 only |
£50 |
£0 |
£50 |
| CON29R only |
£60 |
£12 |
£72 |
| *CON29O (per question, not form) /additional solicitors (lawyers etc.) question |
£10 |
£2 |
£12 |
| Extra parcel (full search) |
£15 |
£3 |
£18* |
| Extra parcel (LLC1 only) |
£15 |
£0 |
£15* |
*depending on parcel request VAT may or may not be payable. The right is expressly reserved in any case for a request for an additional parcel search for a decision to be reached that any such additional parcel search should be treated as a new search and subject to the fee applicable
** VAT elements are as currently understood. VAT will be charged in full according to what the councils understand to be those matters for which VAT is chargeable.
There are no specific circumstances in which any of the Councils will normally waive a fee in relation to any of the above***; however, the Councils will not make a charge for matters in respect of which no charge can legally be levied / where such legislation would reasonably prevent such a charge being made e.g. the inspection of certain public registers for which statute prevents a charge to be made.
Personal search guidelines
To carry out a personal search of the Local Land Charges Register, use the following guidelines:
- confirm your search request in writing
- attach a location plan clearly outlining the search area
- you can send this via email
To send us a EIR Request for CON29 information, use the following guidelines:
- confirm your EIR request in writing
- attach a location plan clearly outlining the search area
- you can send this via email
We do not provide information about:
- drainage
- highways
- property ownership
- building control matters
- environmental health issues
Highways queries
Property ownership queries
Our yearly costs
We are required to publish information about the cost of providing its local land charge service as well as the income it receives.
The figures for the current financial year are estimates based on previous years' figures. The figures for the previous financial year are based on confirmed data.
Summary of costs 2015 to 2016 (actuals)
| Topic | Actual cost |
|---|
| Actual cost of our Land Charges Service |
£226,185 |
| Actual income received in respect of our Land Charges Service |
£207,118 |
| Number of full searches |
2427 |
| Number of personal searches |
858 |
Summary of estimates 2017 to 2018 (estimates)
| Topic | Estimated cost |
|---|
| Estimated cost of our Land Charges Service |
£187,349 |
| Estimated income received in respect of our Land Charges Service |
£158,060 |
| Estimated number of full searches processed |
3350 |
| Estimated number of personal searches processed |
540 |
These figures are based on costs of the section and central support re-charges in addition to re-charges from other departments providing assistance to the Land Charges function.
Contact us
Land Charges Privacy Notice