Personal search facility in the One Stop Shop
Unfortunately due to technical issues the personal search facility in the One Stop Shop is unavailable until further notice whilst a solution is being investigated. We apologise for this inconvenience. In the meantime, personal searches and any other enquiries should be requested via email to spatialdatagroup@bolton.gov.uk.
Update - 16 March 2023
We currently have a 4 month delay on Local Land Charge searches. This is due to a back-log caused by a system change.
Full LA Searches - these are being done manually and can take time to complete. Please contact if you need to use this service.
Personal Searches – we are able to provide results for these, using a combination of manual and electronic searching. The length of time they will take to complete will vary, depending on the complexity of the case.
If these delays is adversely affecting a potential sale or mortgage offer, please contact us to explain the situation and we will give it more priority.
We appreciate the impact this situation is having on the housing market, conveyancing process and commercial and private transactions. We apologise and we are working hard to improve the situation.
Thank you for your patience.
Answers to CON29 questions will still be available on the council website.
What is a Local land charge search?
When buying a property or piece of land, your solicitor will submit a local search request to the council. A local search protects the purchaser against unknowingly inheriting land charges, prohibitions held against the property or land and will warn of future proposals.
Please click here for overall guidance about buying a home
Please click here for overall guidance about selling a home
We will investigate and bring all the information together in the form of a local authority search. The information is collected from different council departments including planning and building control, environmental services and highways services.
What type of searches can I do?
- official local authority search
- personal search under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Local authority search
A local search is part of the legal process to transfer the ownership of a property from the seller to the buyer.
The majority of mortgage lenders insist on an official local search being carried out which is in two parts:
LLC1
The official Local Land Charges Certificate is a record of all the local land charges registered against the property. The register contains:
- outstanding liabilities for road and other financial charges
- tree preservation orders
- conditional planning consents and agreements
- notices relating to the making of a compulsory purchase order, to name but a few
CON29
The Enquiries of Local Authorities form asks questions relating to the property such as:
- road schemes
- the planning history
- proposed yellow lines or road calming measures
- tree preservation orders to be made
- various notices which affect the property
How do I request a local search?
To perform a local search, please send us an email containing:
- the type of search required
- the address and a plan showing the boundaries of the property in red
- a statement of your willingness to pay and that a cheque will be forwarded
At present, for any Official Local Land Charge Searches required, we are advising that you submit via one of the portals recommended below, as there is currently no direct payment facility in operation.
Personal search
A personal search is a personal inspection of all the data required to compile a property search enquiry. Personal searches are usually carried out by a private search company, who use the information as part of their own property search and may charge you a fee for providing this service.
If a private search company undertakes your search and you need further explanations from the information provided, you will have to go back to that search company, as the authority’s land charges staff will not be able to assist you.
How can I do a personal search?
You can find the information that would be requested in a CON29R search by undertaking a personal search of each subject area yourself.
This can involve:
- searching online
- sending requests to individual service area
Personal search requests are free, although there is a charge of 10p per page for any requested copies of the information, and no target period for processing.
A personal search means you will do all the work yourself. We will not:
- issue an official search certificate
- give advice on how to conduct your personal search
For commercial premises you can either carry out a personal search yourself or you can request a local land charge search, for which fees and charges apply.
The document below shows where to search online and which individual service areas to contact for each piece of information.
Schedule for information for property searches (PDF 143.09KB) (link opens in a new window).
Personal searches are not covered by Section 10(3) of the Local Land Charges Act 1975, which relates to compensation for loss.
Charges and other information
| Property Search type | Unit cost excluding VAT | Unit cost including VAT |
| Full Search (CON29 & LLC1) | £152.67 | £171.00 |
| CON29 | £91.67 | £110.00 |
| LLC1 Official Search | £61.00 | £61.00 |
| CON29O Optional Questions | £21.25 | £25.50 |
| Personal Search | No Charge | No Charge |
| Additional Questions | £25.00 | £30.00 |
| Additional Parcels of Land (adjoining) for LLC1 | £1.00 | £1.00 (each) |
| Additional Parcels of Land (adjoining) for CON29 | £9.00 | £10.80 (each) |
Please see further payment, response and property information