New Procedures from 1 August 2007

This is to inform you of the services available through the Local Land Charges Section in the provision of property search related information following the introduction of revised Form CON29 and Housing Information Packs (HIPS).

Please note that a Home Information Pack (HIP) is currently only required for houses marketed as having four or more bedrooms.

The replacement forms will be known as

  • CON29(R), "Required" Enquiries of the Local Authority (2007 Edition) and
  • CON29(O), "Optional" Enquiries of the Local Authority (2007 Edition).

There is no change to Form LLC1 Requisition for Search and Official Certificate of Search.

From 1 August 2007, searches submitted electronically via the NLIS Hub will be on the revised CON29 forms. However, for an additional period of two weeks only, we are prepared to accept search requests submitted manually i.e. by DX, post, or by hand, on the old forms. Replies to those search requests will be in accordance with the revised CON29 format.

During this time, if any search submitted manually on the old form CON29 is required for inclusion in a HIP, it is essential that it should be accompanied by a covering statement containing the information required in Box E of the revised CON29(R), as detailed in the HIP Regulations.

 

Types of Search Request and Fees

All information necessary to complete the CON29 "Required" element of the HIP, which includes unrefined information (i.e. not held on a statutory register), will be made available on submission of the CON29(R) form with payment in advance.

Waltham Forest Council is fully accountable for the full, authenticated and guaranteed information supplied in response to Forms LLC1 and CON29 "Required" or "Optional" and will respond to any follow-up enquiry arising only from an official search.

Other search providers compiling their own CON29 "Required" response have access to statutory registers. Any follow-up queries arising from search reports provided using those sources must be referred back to that provider.

 

Search Response Times

We aim to turnaround a search within 5 working days.

Waltham Forest Council’s Local Land Charges Service provides fully guaranteed information.

Each search request form, LLC1, CON29 "Required" or CON29 "Optional" is now a standalone document and can be submitted in any combination along with the correct fee.

If you wish to check an area of land/property to ascertain the correct fee, please contact us.

If you require further information, please contact us.

 

Personal Searches from 01 August 2007

Waltham Forest Council is currently operating in accordance with the Personal Searches: Guidance for Local Authorities and Personal Searchers (2005) [external].

Information is accessible in respect of the unitary development plan, the planning applications and decisions register, the stop and enforcement register, the Adopted Street Register and Definitive Footpaths/Public Rights of Way.

The current system for access to information in respect of Highways Schemes (i.e. on written application and payment of a fee of £36 per property) will be maintained until further notice. Please address correspondence to: Highways Services Department, The Municipal Offices, 16, The Ridgeway London E4 6PS

Where information does not form part of a statutory register, public document or record, we are working towards making more of that information available as soon as is practical.

We await any resultant guidance or policy decisions that may arise from the Government Consultation document on access to information. We also await the outcomes of the work currently being undertaken into the three OFT options for a charging regime for access to/the provision of information that is currently being undertaken on behalf of Central Government in response to the December 2006 OFT report in to the Property Searches Market.