How Much Do Conveyancing Searches Cost?

"What will the searches cost?"

It's the question every buyer puts to their solicitor, and the one solicitors would love to answer with a single number. They can't — not honestly. There isn't one.

The total on a completion statement isn't a price; it's a sum. Several separate fees, set by different people, varying by where the property sits and which searches get ordered. Understand the parts and the whole stops being a mystery. Here's what actually drives it. For the wider picture, start with conveyancing searches explained.

Why isn't there one price for conveyancing searches?

Because the cost is assembled from separate fees, not quoted as one. The largest and most variable piece is the local authority search, where the council's CON29 fee is set locally. Add drainage and water, environmental, any situational searches, and you get a total that genuinely varies property to property.

Think of it the way you'd think of turnaround time. There's no single answer for how long searches take either, because the council sets the pace. Cost works the same way: the council sets a big chunk of the figure, and the rest depends on which searches the matter actually needs.

That's why two near-identical houses in different districts can come back with different search bills. Same searches, different councils, different fees. The variation isn't a mistake or a markup — it's how the system is built.

What drives the cost of the local authority search?

The council's CON29 fee, set by each authority and varying widely across England and Wales, drives most of it. That fee covers the official local authority search. Where you order a regulated personal search instead, the firm's own fee applies — often cheaper and faster than the official route for the same property.

So two things move the number. First, which council. Each authority sets its CON29 fee independently, so the official search costs more in some areas than others, sometimes substantially. Second, which route. The official council search and a regulated personal search are two ways to get the local authority answers, and they're priced differently.

A personal search firm compiles the CON29 result itself rather than buying the council's official product. That's why the personal route is frequently the lower-cost option — and usually the quicker one. Whether it suits a given matter comes down to lender acceptance, which is set lender by lender in the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook, not by any blanket rule. If you're weighing the two, regulated vs official goes deeper.

How much does the LLC1 cost now?

In areas migrated to HM Land Registry's national register, the LLC1 result is free online, or £15 for the official certificate that carries the guarantee. Around a third of local authorities have migrated, with a 2028 target. Where records haven't migrated, the council charges its own LLC1 fee instead.

This is the part that's genuinely changed. The Local Land Charges register at HM Land Registry holds the LLC1 — the charges register — though not the CON29. In a migrated area you can pull a free search result, or pay the £15 for the certificate with the statutory guarantee behind it.

Where an authority hasn't migrated yet, none of that applies. The council still produces the LLC1 the old way and charges its own fee for it. So the LLC1 line on a search bill can read as nil, £15, or a council charge — entirely depending on whether that authority has moved across. The Law Society's overview of the CON29 and LLC1 forms is the reference if you want the form-level detail.

What about drainage, environmental and the situational searches?

Drainage and water (CON29DW) and environmental searches each carry their own provider fee, separate from anything the council charges. On top of those sit situational add-ons — coal mining (CON29M), chancel and flood — ordered only when the property's location calls for them.

The CON29DW is a Law Society form, with the data coming from the regional water companies through providers such as Geodesys, Severn Trent Searches and Landmark. Environmental searches likewise come from commercial providers. Each is a distinct line with its own cost.

The situational searches are where local knowledge earns its keep. A coal mining search (CON29M) from the Mining Remediation Authority matters in former coalfield areas and is pointless elsewhere. Chancel and flood follow the same logic. Order them where they're warranted and they're money well spent; order them by reflex everywhere and you've padded the bill for no reason. Picking a provider who knows which searches a given location actually needs is half the value — see choosing a provider.

How does a search pack change the cost?

A search pack bundles the common searches — local authority, drainage and water, environmental, often coal — into a single ordered price. It doesn't lower the underlying fees; it packages them. The convenience is real, but the total is still the sum of the same parts described above.

For a solicitor, the pack is easy to quote and easy to order, which is the point. For the firm assembling it, the pack is only as efficient as the operation behind it. Each component still has to be ordered correctly, from the right provider, for the right property — and any rework eats into the margin the bundle was meant to protect.

"Clients always think there's a fixed price and someone's deciding to charge them more. There isn't. The council sets its fee, the water company sets theirs, and you order the situational searches the property actually needs. The skill isn't shaving pennies off each line. It's knowing exactly which searches a property requires, ordering them right the first time, and not paying twice because something went out wrong."

— Valerie Bennett, Personal Search Veteran · June 2026

What conveyancing searches typically cost — at a glance

The table below sets out what drives each line, not a price list. Figures vary by area, provider and route, so treat anything specific as typical and variable rather than fixed.

The headline, then. There's no single cost for conveyancing searches because there's no single search. The number on the statement is the local authority fee — the biggest, most area-dependent piece — plus drainage and water, environmental, and whatever the property's location genuinely calls for. Once you can see the parts, the total makes sense.

For firms producing these searches, the cost discipline that matters most is operational: order the right searches, from the right provider, correctly the first time. Valio runs that process end to end, from order intake to invoice, so nothing goes out wrong and gets paid for twice.

Conveyancing searches explained → · How long searches take → · Regulated vs official → · Valio for solicitors →