What are property searches for?
A seller answers enquiries about the property. Searches answer the questions the seller cannot, or will not: what the council knows, what the water company records show, what the ground beneath the house has been used for, and what is planned nearby. They are the difference between buying a house and buying a house with a road-widening scheme at the end of the garden.
Searches and a survey are not substitutes. A survey looks at the building; searches look at everything around and underneath it. A surveyor will not find a public sewer or an enforcement notice. A search will not find damp or a failing roof. The core three are needed almost everywhere; the rest depend on the location.
| Search | Who answers it | When it is needed | What it does not cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local authority (LLC1 and CON29) | The local council | Every purchase, and in practice every lender on a mortgage, though each sets its own requirement | Neighbouring land, except proposals directly affecting the property |
| Drainage and water (CON29DW) | The water and sewerage company | Every purchase, and in practice every lender on a mortgage, though each sets its own requirement | Private drains within the boundary, which need a CCTV survey |
| Environmental | A specialist data provider | Every purchase in practice; most lenders expect it | Physical testing of the ground; it is a desktop report |
| Flood risk | A specialist data provider using Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales data | Where the environmental screen or the location suggests exposure | Whether insurance will actually be offered; that is for the insurer |
| Coal mining (CON29M) | The Mining Remediation Authority, the operating name the Coal Authority took on 28 November 2024; the Coal Authority remains its legal name until legislation confirms the change (gov.uk framework document updated 6 August 2026, checked 20 September 2026) | Former coalfield areas only | Other minerals: tin, brine and limestone have their own searches |
| Chancel repair | A specialist data provider | Where the title or the parish suggests liability | Usually resolved by indemnity rather than further enquiry |
What does a full search pack include?
Three searches on every purchase, a flood risk search where the environmental screen or the location suggests exposure, coal mining wherever the postcode requires it, and one written report drawing them together. The local authority search covers planning history, building control, road adoption, enforcement notices and local land charges. The drainage and water search covers mains connection, public sewers under the land, adoption and metering. The environmental search covers contaminated land, landfill, ground stability and radon, with a headline flood figure. The flood risk search covers river, coastal, surface water and groundwater risk at property level, with insurability and Flood Re eligibility.
Coal mining is added where the postcode is in the reporting area, and tin, brine, limestone, clay or chancel repair checks where the location calls for them. Nothing is forwarded raw. Where two searches disagree, we reconcile them before you see either.
If you are buying with a mortgage, the pack is not optional: your lender requires it as a condition of the loan, or search indemnity insurance in its place in limited cases (each lender sets its own rule in part 2 of its UK Finance handbook entry). If you are a cash buyer, nobody will force you. But an enforcement notice, a public sewer under the garden or an uninsurable flood risk binds you just the same, and the next buyer's lender will ask the questions you did not. Some cash buyers take the local authority and drainage searches only, with the risk explained in writing. On a flat, the pack is ordered alongside the leasehold management pack from the landlord or managing agent, which covers the money in the block; no search does that.
The gaps matter as much as the coverage. No search reveals development proposed on neighbouring land unless a charge affects your title; a planning search over a radius is the tool for that. No search reports the condition of the house. And no search stays fresh forever: lenders usually treat results older than six months at completion as stale (each lender sets its own rule in part 2 of its UK Finance handbook entry), so where a chain is slow we watch the date and, before it becomes a problem, either order a refresh or tell you whether search validation insurance, which you buy from an insurer or through a broker, would satisfy your lender.
What happens if a search reveals a problem?
An adverse entry is not automatically a reason to walk away. Unadopted roads, historic landfill within 250 metres, a missing building regulation certificate for a conservatory, or a public sewer under the garden are common and usually manageable. A missing certificate is usually covered by indemnity insurance. A sewer under the garden means a build-over agreement if you extend. A further-action environmental result usually passes on the provider's consultant review. A flood risk means an insurance quotation before exchange. A mine entry means an interpretive report.
Indemnity insurance has one rule that catches people out: insurers will not cover a risk that has already been raised with the council or the person who could enforce it, and a policy taken out after such an approach can be avoided. That is why the sequence matters, and why we ask you not to ring the planning department before we have spoken. Our guide to indemnity insurance in conveyancing explains what a policy does and does not do.
Where a finding is serious, an enforcement notice, an uninsurable flood risk, an untreated shaft under the house, the options are a price reduction, a retention, a condition in the contract or withdrawal. We set them out in writing with a recommendation, and the decision is yours. The local authority search can take the longest, which is why it is ordered first.