What are conveyancing searches?

Why searches exist

When you buy a home in England and Wales, the rule is "buyer beware". The seller has to answer questions honestly, but it's up to you to find out what you're buying. A survey looks at the building. Searches look at everything around it: the land, the roads, the pipes, the planning history and what's under the ground.

If you're buying with a mortgage, your lender will want searches done too. The property is their security for the loan, so they want to know it isn't about to be cut off by a new bypass or swallowed by a sinkhole.

The main searches

Local authority search

This is the big one, and it comes in two parts. The first, called the LLC1, is a search of the local land charges register. That's the council's list of restrictions and obligations tied to a piece of land, such as a tree preservation order or the property being in a conservation area.

The second part, called the CON29, is a set of standard questions the council answers about the property. It covers things like:

• Planning. Planning permissions and refusals for the property, and whether any work was done without permission.
• Building control. Building regulations approvals and completion certificates the council holds.
• Roads. Whether the road outside is adopted, meaning the council maintains it, or private, meaning the owners might have to pay for repairs.
• Road and rail schemes. New roads, road widening or railways planned nearby.
• Compulsory purchase. Whether the council plans to buy the land, with or without the owner's agreement, for a public project.
• Notices. Enforcement notices, contaminated land notices and other formal notices served on the property.

Water and drainage search

Often called the CON29DW, this comes from the local water company. It tells you whether the property is connected to mains water and the public sewer, whether it's on a water meter, and where the public sewers and water mains run. That last part is worth knowing if you're planning an extension, because building over a public sewer usually needs the water company's agreement.

Environmental search

This looks at the land's past and its risks. It checks for contaminated land, for example where a factory, petrol station or landfill site once stood, and for flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water. Many reports also cover ground stability and radon, a natural gas found in some areas. A flood risk result can affect your buildings insurance, so it's worth knowing early.

Searches that depend on where you're buying

Mining searches

Large parts of England and Wales were once mined. A coal mining search, from the Coal Authority and sometimes called the CON29M, tells you whether there are old mine workings, shafts or past subsidence claims near the property. It's relevant across South Yorkshire and many other former coalfield areas.

Other areas have their own history. Parts of Cornwall and Devon need a tin mining search, and parts of Cheshire need a brine search, because salt was extracted by pumping out brine, which could cause the ground to sink.

You don't need to work out which of these apply. Your conveyancer looks at the property's location and decides which optional searches are needed.

Chancel repair

Some properties that sit on land once owned by the church can be asked to pay towards repairing the chancel, the part of a parish church around the altar. It's an old rule and claims are rare, but a chancel repair search shows whether the property is in a parish where the risk exists. Often the simpler answer is a one-off insurance policy, and your conveyancer will tell you which makes sense.

Can you skip searches?

If you're buying with cash, you can choose not to have some searches and take out search indemnity insurance instead. This is a one-off policy that covers you if something a search would have found later costs you money, such as a fall in the property's value.

It sounds like a shortcut, but it has limits. It only pays out for a financial loss, so it won't stop the new road being built or the house flooding. It usually doesn't cover anything you already knew about. And if you're buying with a mortgage, many lenders won't accept it, because they want to see the actual search results. When you come to sell, your buyer's conveyancer will usually want proper searches too.

How long searches take

We order searches as soon as you've paid for them. They're a disbursement, which means a cost we pay to someone else on your behalf, so we ask for the money up front rather than at the end.

The water and environmental searches usually come back within a few days. The local authority search is the one to watch: some councils reply in a few days, while others take several weeks. It's often the reason a purchase waits. Our guide to how long conveyancing takes shows where searches fit among the other stages.

What happens if a search turns something up

Most search results are routine. When something does come up, it's rarely the end of the purchase. Your conveyancer will explain what it means in plain English and what your options are. Usually that means one of these:

• More questions. We raise enquiries with the seller's conveyancer, for example asking for the building regulations sign-off the council doesn't have.
• Insurance. For some problems, such as work done without the right approval years ago, an indemnity insurance policy can cover the risk.
• Renegotiating. If the result affects what the property is worth to you, you might go back to the seller about the price.
• Walking away. Until contracts are exchanged, you're free to pull out if you're not comfortable.

If you're buying a flat, the lease brings its own checks on top of the searches. Our guide to leasehold vs freehold explains what to look for.

How we handle your searches

You get a named conveyancer from day one who picks the right searches for the property and orders them as soon as you're ready. When the results land, we tell you what they mean on WhatsApp, and flag anything that needs your decision. We're regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.