Conveyancing Searches Guide

The three most common conveyancing searches are those required by mortgage lenders:

• Local Authority search

  This search covers a number of issues, such as planning and building regulations; whether the road immediately outside your property is adopted or not; whether there are any nearby roadwork or railway schemes; and whether the property is listed or in a conservation area.

• Water and Drainage search

  This search will reveal whether the property is connected to the main water supply; whether foul water and surface drainage are connected to the public sewer; the location of the water mains; and whether there is a public sewer within the boundaries of the property (which may affect your ability to extend the property).

• Environmental search

  This search will give you information about the contamination risk to the property from any nearby landfill sites; former or nearby current industrial uses; radon gas hazard; ground stability; and a flood risk rating. The search will give a certificate saying whether the search has passed or, if not, what further action should be taken.

Other searches that you might need depend on the location of the property. For example, properties in areas with a mining history require a mining search...

Examples of other conveyancing searches include:

• Planning search

  This search reveals the planning history of the property and the surrounding neighbourhood. The Local Authority search only deals with the planning history of the specific property address and does not reveal anything about the neighbouring properties.

• Chancel liability search

  This is a medieval liability on certain properties which can be raised to help pay for the cost of church repairs. The law changed in October 2013 so that any liability should now appear on the title deeds for the property but there are still situations where this is not the case.

• Flood search
• Coal mining, brine and other mining searches
• Energy and Infrastructure search
• High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) search
• Underground railways search
• Dev Assess search
• Commons Registration
• Disadvantaged Areas Search Relief

There are a great number of searches available and these lists are not all-inclusive...