Conveyancing Searches
Welcome to Legal Brokers Ltd, we are conveyancing searches providers and this is our blog page.
We use this page to keep our clients updated with changes affecting specific Local Councils, as well Utility Companies, and other providers who have a part to play in providing conveyancing searches to solicitors and conveyancers.
Typically, we provide Official Searches, Personal Searches, and a range of Utility products.
This page is generally updated every couple of days as a way to keep fee earners updated. As well as being available to view it's also duplicated onto the client portal so fee earners can scroll through the information at their leisure.
Our admin system, when a client logs in, provides Estimated Return Dates (ERD's) for each bundle of searches hence the News Section is simply an additional tool to keep clients updated with respect to matters affecting their search orders.
Furthermore from the conveyancing searches portal our clients can also generate conveyancing quotes via our quotes calculator, get Indemnity Title Insurances, and select Biomtric and Non Biometric AML search products.
If you'd like to discuss becoming a client and our provding conveyancing searches on your behalf please either call 0345 603 0708 or email marketing@legalbrokers.com.
Legal Brokers Ltd
Search Providers
News and General 19th August 2026
We've completed our Source of Funds report. It's available from the AML tab (after clicking the tab, head to the bottom right). We've also integrated with Compass to offer an SDLT advice service.
And next we're working to develop a Report on Title platform. Fun times. JH
Personal Conveyancing Searches;
Completed Personal Searches are a combination of data obtained from different Council departments, specifically; Building, Highways, Land Charges and Planning. Some data is available online, other information needs sending to us by the Council, and in certain situations we need to visit the Council's offices to retrieve the data we need.... and Councils can make search agents wait for available appointment slots. ie. all search firms are in the same boat (so to speak).
Official Search Prices;
Please contact us to double check pricing. There are around 350 Local Authorities in England and Wales, each with different fees for CON29R, LLC and the 19 CON29O optional questions. Very few of these Local Authorities notify us prior to increasing their fees.
The current average turnaround times (over the past 90 days) for Personal Local Searches is 11 working days. Please note, this can vary depending on individual Local Authorities and their ability to return the data we need. Details of councils where we're experiencing delays are listed below:
Bracknell Forest are experiencing considerable delays due to issues with their new system, they are currently unable to process searches and will be working through the back log as soon as possible.
Corby are now returning data for personal searches in 15-20 working days
Coventry City Council turnaround for Personal Searches is back down to 10 working days
Fenland District Council are experciencing delays in returning personal searches data. Currently returning the data in approximately 30 working days
Flintshire Following months of delays in returning data for personal searches, Flintshire have put process in place to reduce the turnaround time to more acceptable levels of 25 - 30 working days and are working to improve this further.
Gloucester City have reduced their turnaround time for personal search data to 12 working days
Hackney are not accepting "full" Personal Local Search requests at present. There is still the option of a Partial Search, to discuss this further email kath@legalbrokers.com. Alternatively, we can offer a Search Delay Indemnity Policy for £30 plus IPT, please contact indemnities@legalbrokers.com for further information.
As of 27th July 2026, Hackney are now able to provide full Official Searches, if you would like to enquire about the price of swapping the personal local search in your bundle for an official search, please email searches@legalbrokers.com
Islington Council have increased their turnaround time to 30 working days for personal and official searches
London Borough of Hillingdon have reduce their turnaround time to around 15 working days for personal searches
Melton are experiencing delays in returning information for personal searches, their turnaround time has increased to 30 working days
Norfolk Councils all have a current turn around time of 20 working days, this includes Broadland, South Norfolk, Norwich and Kings Lynn.
Oxford have experienced IT issues recently which has delayed returning information for personal searches by about a week.
Reading Following months of delays with obtaining building control, Reading have now completed the update on their Building Control system which should reduce the turnaround time for personal searches.
Sheffield Council have advised - Due to staff shortages we will be experiencing increased timescales for sending out all searches (both full and personal) from now until further notification, which we anticipate at times could go up to around a 25 working day turnaround. We do not envisage that we will be in a position to undertake any expedited searches during this period so please enquire prior to sending this type of request in. If the situation changes we will let you know. Please be assured that we are trying our best to process your requests as quickly as possible and are working hard to reconfigure our resources to minimise the delays.Thank you for your patience, please avoid chaser emails and phone calls until the 25 day period as expired, as this causes further delay.
Stoke-on-Trent have reduced their return time for Official Searches from 35 working days down to 20 working days
St Albans are experiencing delays of up to 25 days in returning Personal Searches.
St Helens have now successfully migrated their Land Charges data to HMLR. We have reduced our turnaround time for Personal Local Searches with this council to 2 weeks.
Vale of White Horse have advised that their new Land Charges system has now launched, however there will be a delay in processing searches due to the backlog of requests. They anicipate returning searches 20 working days from the date of acceptance.
Walsall Council are gradually speeding up and turn around time has reduced from 40 working days to 30 working days.
Wiltshire have reduced their turnaround time down to 15 working days for personal searches
Wrexham are now returning data for personal searches in around 15 working days
York Council have advised they are experiencing staff shortages within the Land Charges Team which is leading to delays in search turnaround times and responses to queries. This is expected to continue over the next few months
New Builds. In some circumstances the development and properties will be registered with the Land Registry (which is where our data comes from) and the site will be able to identify each property. If the Land Registry hasn't got the data we'll need a Plot plan, Location plan, and Development plan. ie. we need to find the property with reference to existing roads and infrastructure.
In some circumstances it may be quicker to order an Official Search rather than a Personal Search. Officials are generally more expensive, but the Council may offer a faster turnaround time. Please email kath@legalbrokers.com if you have an urgent search requirement.
We understand that there are unfortunately times that searches have to be cancelled. To make sure your request is received and dealt with promptly, please send all cancellation requests and queries to searches@legalbrokers.com as this email is monitored daily by all members of staff.
Kind Regards
Stacey Armitage
Searches Department
Tel: 0345 603 0708
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