Local Land Charges - Personal Search
PERSONAL SEARCH REQUESTS AND REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION UNDER THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES (CHARGES FOR PROPERTY SEARCHES) REGULATIONS 2008
Please note that the following procedure will be adopted by Harrogate Borough Council to deal with personal searches, requests to view public registers and requests for assistance and information normally contained within the Official CON 29R and CON 29O Enquiries of District Councils, with effect from 1 April 2009.
Aims of the Procedure
- To promote good practice and working relations amongst the Authority's staff and personal searchers, by providing Land Charges Registerable data, access to other records open for public inspection free of charge and the provision of other information and assistance on a cost basis, without unnecessary disruption of work.
- To alleviate the increased pressure on the Authority's staff who have to accommodate growing numbers of personal searchers in addition to other work including maintaining the Land Charges Register and other records and providing an official search service for the Authority.
- To ensure that the Authority does not exercise anti-competitive behaviour or discriminate against either itself or its competitors. Whilst any person is entitled to inspect free of charge any records open for public inspection held by the Authority, this does not, however, include Officer assistance or interpretation of such records. If assistance is required, or information is requested which is not within records open to public inspection, a charge will be made on a cost basis, in accordance with the 2008 Regulations
Personal Searches of the Local Land Charges Register
The Authority is required to allow any person to obtain information from the Land Charges Register. In addition to searching the Local Land Charges Register, many personal searchers may wish to inspect other records open for public inspection, although this does not form part of a personal search as defined by the Land Charges Act 1975 .
In accordance with instructions issued on 27th July 2010 by the Department for Communities and Local Government there is no fee for a personal search of the local land charges register. The procedure for viewing this information remains as detailed below:-
At Harrogate Borough Council the Register of Local Land Charges is stored partially on computer and partially in manual files. It is for this reason that we have adopted the following procedure for conducting a personal search of the Register, which entails our staff collating all the information in advance and providing notification of when that information is available to be viewed:
- The name, address and telephone number of the person or company carrying out the personal search and details of the address/area of land against which the search is to be made should be emailed to the Land Charges' Office at Landchar@harrogate.gov.uk. It is essential that a good quality, up-to-date plan clearly showing the boundaries of the property in context with the surrounding area, is provided in all cases .
- We aim to commence processing all requests received before 12 noon on the day of receipt (subject to levels of demand and staff availability). Requests received later in the day are likely to commence processing on the next working day.
- The request is usually completed within 8 working days, at which point you will be notified by email.
- Once notified, your search request information will be available to VIEW only, Monday - Friday between 8.30am and 4.30pm, at Planning Enquiries, Department of Development Services, Knapping Mount, West Grove Road, Harrogate HG1 2AE (See location map).
- Please be advised that the Planning Register and other Public Registers, the viewing of which do not form part of a personal search, are available for inspection by appointment with the Planning Enquiries Section of the Department of Development Services, Knapping Mount, West Grove Road, Harrogate, HG1 2AE. Tel: 01423 556666, or the Environmental Protection Team, Department of Community Services, Springfield House, Kings Road, Harrogate, HG1 5NX. Tel: (01423) 556633 (See location map).
On arrival at the Department of Development Services, please go to the main reception desk where payment for individual questions, if requested, can be made by credit/debit card, cheque or cash and a receipt will be issued.
Once payment has been made please go to Planning Enquiries where you will be shown the Personal Search result. You will also be given any individual questions which were requested with the Personal Search. Planning Enquiries can also show you any public registers, however please note that planning records can be viewed online within Public Access. Other property related information is also available on our website.
Please note that neither Local Land Charges, Planning, Environmental Health or other Officers will be available to assist with any inspections or interpretations of the Registers, therefore basic knowledge of the personal search system and registers is essential.
What else can you inspect?
Listed below are some of the Authority's statutory registers and records, which are open for public inspection. Any or all of these may be inspected during reasonable office hours. Please note, however, that these do not form part of the personal search and it will be necessary for an appointment to be made by telephoning:
- Planning Enquiries on (01423) 556666
- Environmental Health Enquiries on (01423) 556633
It will assist the Authority's staff if, when telephoning, details of the property address/location and type of information which is required is stated so that the necessary records/registers will be available at the stated appointment time, otherwise, there will be a delay until a member of staff becomes available to produce the requested records.
Appointments will normally be available on the following working day.
The Council's statutory registers and records which are available for inspection free of charge (without officer interpretation) are as follows:
Planning
Register of Planning applications/decisions
Stop and Enforcement Notice Register
District Wide Local Plan
Tree Preservation Orders
Register of Hazardous Substances
Environmental Health
Register of Food Premises
Register of Licensed Premises
Register of Waste Management Licences issued by the Environment Agency
Register of Radioactive Substances
Register of Cooling Towers & Evaporative Condensers
Register of Industrial Processes Permitted by the Environment Agency under Part A1 of the Pollution Prevention Control Act 1999
Register of Industrial Processes Permitted under Parts B & A2 of The Pollution Prevention Control Act 1999
Register of Contaminated Land
Information contained within the Council's records which is not comprised within public registers but is normally required to provide answers to personal searchers own version of the Official CON29R and CON29O Enquiries of District Councils will be provided in accordance with the Schedule of Registers in accordance with the Information for Local Enquiries Search.
There are some requests for information relating to Environmental Protection not normally contained within CON29 where the applicant may not wish to view the public registers and records themselves or where the information is not in the public domain, which the Authority proposes to deal with under the Environmental Information Regulations and these inquiries should be made in writing to the Environmental Protection Team, Department of Community Services, Springfield House, Kings Road, Harrogate, HG1 5NX with the appropriate fee. (See Schedule of Registers/Information for Local Enquiries Search).
Please note that requests for any copy documents or planning decision notices should be addressed in writing to the Authority's Local Land Charges Section, Department of Development Services, Knapping Mount, West Grove Road, Harrogate, HG1 2AE.
Please ensure that where a personal search or other information is obtained on behalf of a third party (i.e solicitor, licensed conveyancer etc):
- The results should be presented to the third party in a way, which makes it clear that the search information has been compiled by the searcher and not by the Authority. This is necessary to ensure that any queries about the reported results are properly directed to the searcher and not to the Authority.
- Similarly, where the searcher obtains an official LLC1 search from the Authority and supplies this to a third party client together with the results of a personal search based on enquiries on the CON 29 form, it should be indicated to the client that only the LLC1 form comprises an official search carried out by the Authority.
- The official LLC1 search form is prescribed by statute, and must not be altered in any way. Only registering authorities (local authorities) are authorised to sign form LLC1.
- Not all the information required to answer enquiries on the CON 29 form is available from records open for public inspection held by the Authority. Where an answer given to a CON 29 question is based on information obtained from a source other than a record made available to the searcher by the Authority, this should be indicated in the answer and the source identified.
Please note that the Authority do not deal with inquiries relating to water services, highways and common land, and these should be addressed to the appropriate organisation as detailed below:
| Water - |
Yorkshire Water (Safe Move)
PO Box 99
Bradford
BD3 7YB |
| Highways/Commons - |
North Yorkshire County Council
County Hall
Northallerton
DL7 8AH
Tel: 0845 8 72 73 74
customer.services@northyorks.gov.uk |
If you have any queries, suggestions or comments with regard to the procedure outlined above, please forward these to helen.whitby@harrogate.gov.uk