Conveyancing Searches Cost: How to Compare Your Quote

Conveyancing searches do not have one official national pack price. Different councils, properties, water providers and environmental products produce different totals. Ask your conveyancer for an itemised quotation and compare the exact searches being ordered. Our dated council LLC1 and CON29 fee table provides a sourced starting point, with original verification dates and explicit estimate labels. It is research, not a current quotation.

Separate the local-authority search into its parts

A local-authority search commonly combines the Local Land Charges register search, called LLC1, with CON29 enquiries to the council. The register concerns recorded charges and restrictions; the enquiries cover defined council-held matters such as planning and building-control decisions and roads. Confirm which standard and optional enquiries your quote includes, rather than assuming every product called a local search is identical.

HM Land Registry's public service says searching the available register is free and an official search certificate costs £15. Check whether the relevant authority's data has migrated. The CON29 enquiries are separate, so the certificate price is not the price of the complete local-authority search. This official amount was rechecked on 5 September 2026; council observations retain the dates shown in the linked table.

Name the environmental product

Provider prices are useful only when attached to the right product. Groundsure Homebuyers is advertised from From £92.60 + VAT; Avista starts at From £138.90 + VAT and expressly lists CON29M. Landmark lists Homecheck Residential from £62 plus VAT, Envirosearch from £89 plus VAT and RiskView Residential from £136 plus VAT. These public prices were checked on 5 September 2026 and may differ from a conveyancer's negotiated quotation or bundle.

Read the product's current scope, reliance terms and follow-up provisions. A named environmental assessment may address contaminated-land liability and other risks that a low-cost public-data screen does not establish. Do not infer that every environmental product includes a separate mining search or the same detailed flood assessment. See our Groundsure comparison and Landmark comparison for the distinctions.

Allow for water and location-specific enquiries

The drainage-and-water search has its own provider and charge. Ask what the selected report covers about mains connections, sewers and other relevant infrastructure. Depending on the address and findings, your conveyancer may recommend additional mining, flood or other enquiries. Request the supplier name and price for each addition; this guide does not invent a standard national water fee or assume every property needs the same extras.

Ask which amounts include VAT and whether the conveyancer or search intermediary adds handling charges. Two quotations with different totals may cover different products or service terms. A lower figure is only a useful saving when the required evidence and permitted reliance remain suitable for the transaction.

Questions to settle before ordering

• Which exact searches and optional enquiries are included?
• What are the council, provider and handling charges, and which include VAT?
• What can cause a further charge after an uncertain or adverse result?
• When will each search be ordered, and what is the current expected turnaround?
• Can anyone rely on existing reports, and does their age or addressee matter?
• Which charges would need to be paid again if the purchase changes or fails?

Keep the itemised quote and ordered product names with the results. Ask the conveyancer to explain the practical implications and any unresolved enquiries. A favourable status label does not describe every possible restriction, defect or environmental issue.

Use earlier screening to form questions

Free official information can help identify concerns before a purchase progresses. Use the flood-risk guide to understand flood types and map limits; ground, coal and radon screens may also suggest questions. A map category, postcode statistic or absent record is not a building inspection or a legal clearance.

HouseCheckup Lite at £9.99 and Complete at £24.99 assemble available screening records, reviewed by a person and emailed with findings and gaps. Neither report supplies an official local-authority search, drainage search, CON29M or contaminated-land liability opinion. We do not claim a measured percentage of equivalence to an environmental search. Read the illustrative sample if that output meets an information need, and discuss formal searches and a suitable survey with the relevant professionals.

Use the cost research with its dates

The searches comparison and council fee research explains the search types and preserves the original council source links. Check those sources for changes before budgeting. The objective is a clear, suitable quotation for the property you are buying, not an assumed saving from replacing a formal search with a different kind of report.