Ask ten people what a local authority search shows and you'll get ten partial answers. Planning, usually. Roads, sometimes. The truth is more specific, and it splits cleanly in two.
A local authority search is two documents working together: the CON29 and the LLC1. Knowing what each one reveals — and what neither covers — is the whole job when you're reviewing results. Here's the full picture. For the wider context, see conveyancing searches explained.
What is a local authority search?
A local authority search is the check made against a property during conveyancing, made up of two parts. The CON29 is a set of enquiries the council answers from its own records. The LLC1 is a search of the Local Land Charges Register. Together they show what the council knows and what's registered against the land.
It is the single most important search in most transactions, which is why mortgage lenders expect both parts. The two documents answer different questions. One asks the council what it knows about the property and its surroundings. The other asks the register what's formally attached to the land. You need both to see the whole property.
The Law Society's CON29 and LLC1 forms are the standard instruments here, and the Local Land Charges Register is the public record the LLC1 searches.
What does the CON29 show?
The CON29 shows everything the council holds about a property and its immediate surroundings: planning permissions and decisions, building regulation approvals and completion certificates, road and highway adoption, public rights of way, contaminated land, radon, Community Infrastructure Levy liability, nearby road and rail schemes, and enforcement notices.
Think of it as the council answering questions, department by department. Planning answers the planning questions. Highways answers whether the road serving the property is publicly maintained, or private, or subject to an adoption agreement. Environmental health answers contaminated land and radon. That's why the CON29 takes time and varies council to council — it's pulled from several internal record sets.
The CON29 areas in detail
The required enquiries cover planning permissions, refusals and pending applications; building regulation approvals and completions; whether the abutting road is adopted and maintained at public expense; highway agreements and proposals; contaminated land designations; radon affected status; CIL liability; and any tree preservation matters the council records here.
It also flags enforcement and breach of condition notices — where the council has acted, or is acting, against unauthorised work. For a conveyancer that's a red flag worth chasing before exchange, because it can mean a building owner is required to undo or regularise work.
What does the LLC1 show?
The LLC1 shows what's formally registered against the land itself, things that attach to the property and pass to every future owner. That means financial charges the council is owed, planning conditions that bind the land, listed building status, conservation area designation, tree preservation orders, and smoke control orders.
The distinction matters when you're reading results. The CON29 is about context and what the council knows. The LLC1 is about the record: a defined list of charges and restrictions entered against that specific plot. A listed building entry, a TPO on the oak in the garden, a conservation area boundary running through the street, a financial charge from grant-funded works — these are LLC1 territory.
Why the two overlap on planning
Planning appears on both, but differently. The CON29 reports planning history and decisions — what was applied for, granted or refused. The LLC1 records planning conditions that bind the land. Reviewers who treat "planning" as one box miss this: a permission can be granted (CON29) while a condition restricting its use is registered against the title (LLC1). You read both, or you read half the planning position.
CON29 vs LLC1: what each part reveals
Here's the split at a glance. When results land on your desk, this is the mental model for checking nothing's missing.
| The CON29 reveals | The LLC1 reveals |
|---|---|
| Planning permissions, refusals and decisions | Financial charges registered against the land |
| Building regulation approvals and completions | Planning conditions binding the land |
| Road and highway adoption and agreements | Listed building status |
| Public rights of way | Conservation area designation |
| Contaminated land and radon | Tree preservation orders |
| CIL liability | Smoke control orders |
| Nearby road and rail schemes | Light obstruction notices |
| Enforcement and breach of condition notices | Other formal local land charges |
What does a local authority search NOT show?
A local authority search does not show the property's structural condition — that's a surveyor's job, not a search. It won't reveal flood risk beyond formally recorded data, what a neighbour might build next year, or anything that simply isn't registered. It reports records, not everything that could affect a property.
This is the gap clients misunderstand most. The search is a record check, not an inspection. Damp, subsidence, a failing roof: none of that appears, because none of it is something a council registers. In twenty years I've seen buyers assume a clean search means a clean house. It doesn't. It means the records are clean.
It also has natural edges. Flooding is covered only as far as the council holds it; a full flood picture needs a separate environmental or flood search. Drainage and water sit in the CON29DW. Coal mining sits in the CON29M. And unregistered matters — informal arrangements, things never entered on any register — won't surface at all. That's the council knowledge problem in a sentence: the search is only as complete as what each authority records and how it answers.
"Clients see 'search' and picture an inspection. It isn't one. A local authority search tells you what's on the record and what's registered, nothing more. The skill is knowing exactly where its edges are, so you commission the right extra searches and don't let anyone exchange thinking it covers more than it does."
— Valerie Bennett, Personal Search Veteran · June 2026
For how the two forms differ in practice and where errors creep in, see CON29 vs LLC1.
How should a conveyancer read the results?
Read the CON29 and LLC1 as two halves of one answer, then check each against the property in front of you. A clean result still needs context: a granted permission with no building regulation completion, an unadopted road, a TPO on a tree someone wants to remove. The value is in spotting what the entries mean for this buyer.
Work through it in order. Confirm the planning history matches what the seller declared. Check whether the road is adopted, because an unadopted road can mean shared maintenance costs. Note any enforcement notice and chase it. On the LLC1, flag listed status, conservation area, and TPOs early, since they change what the owner can do. In our experience most local authority searches come back within 24 to 72 hours, but the review step is where the real time gets lost inside firms, not at the council.
The result is only as useful as the review. A returned search that nobody reads properly is just a PDF.
Conclusion
A local authority search shows two things: what the council knows (the CON29) and what's registered against the land (the LLC1). Between them they reveal planning, roads, contaminated land, charges, listed status, and the rest. What they don't show is just as important: condition, full flood risk, future neighbour behaviour, and anything unregistered.
Read both parts, know their edges, and commission the extra searches the gaps demand. That's the difference between a search that protects a buyer and a PDF that just sits in a file.
Conveyancing searches explained → · CON29 vs LLC1 → · How council data works in Valio →