By Aimee Stevens

Previously where a Local Land Charges search was required by a purchaser of residential property, it was requested from the relevant Local Authority as part of a Local Authority search. Depending on the Local Authority, this can take weeks to arrive and the Land Registry is therefore looking to modernise and use technology to provide quicker and simpler services for home-buyers. As part of this, anyone requiring a Local Land Charges search will soon need to head to the Land Registry’s online portal to obtain this information – although the bulk of the search (being the Local Authority Search) will still need to be done by the Local Authority.

This week Liverpool City Council has been migrated over to the Land Registry, alongside Warwick District Council (who migrated on 11 July 2018). Next up is the City of London Corporation who are due to migrate on 8 October 2018. Seeing how well the Land Registry deals with requests from this particular area may well determine whether or not this scheme is being considered a success.