From today (Thursday 6 February) anyone requiring local land charges searches in the local authority area of Watford Borough Council will need to get them from HM Land Registry rather than going directly to the council.
Watford Borough Council has migrated its local land charges data to HM Land Registry's national register, using digital transformation to make the homebuying process quicker and simpler.
Helen Fisher, Head of Place Shaping at Watford Borough Council, commented:
We are pleased to be at the forefront of this digital transformation. Our local land charges data was a mixture of computerised and paper records. By updating our local land charges data into a single digital source, we are providing confidence in the accuracy of the data and helping to improve the efficiency of buying and selling property in Watford.
Karina Singh, Director of Transformation at HM Land Registry, said:
Watford Borough Council and HM Land Registry have worked together closely to migrate their complex and large dataset to our national digital Local Land Charges Register. I am delighted that people buying property in Watford will now have access to instant local land charges search results, meaning it will be quicker and simpler to buy and sell property in the area.
Local land charges searches are normally required in the property-buying process. Most local land charges are restrictions or prohibitions on the use of the property such as planning permissions or listed buildings. The local land charges search will reveal whether a property is subject to a charge which then informs a buyer's decision to buy a property or parcel of land.
HM Land Registry is working in partnership with local authorities in England to migrate their local land charges data to a central, digital register. Once migrated, anyone will be able to get instant online search results using the Search for local land charges service.
HM Land Registry's business customers can use their existing portal and Business Gateway channels or their usual search providers to access local land charges data for those local authorities which have migrated.
Customers will need to continue to submit CON29 enquiries to the local authority.
For an overview of the service, watch
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