As reported in
our June newsletter, The Law Society's revised CON29 and CON29O forms will go live on
4 July 2016.
We have been warned by an increasing number of local authorities to expect delays during this transition, as they make the necessary changes to their own processes.
Our ordering platform contains live ETA information for all Regulated Local and Council Sourced Searches. You will also be notified of turnaround in your order confirmation emails.
Here at OneSearch, we've been working hard to ensure everything is in place before the changes come into force.
What will change?
Our reports will include the extra questions as detailed below, which will be seamlessly integrated into the colour coded layout for ease of interpretation:
-
- Q2 – now incorporates Public Rights of Way and new questions 2.2 - 2.5 have been inserted.
- Q3.3 – Drainage Matters. New questions 3.3 (a), (b), (c) regarding Sustainable Drainage Schemes (SuDS)
- Q3.10 – Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). New questions 3.10 (a) to (h)
- Q3.15 – Assets of Community Value. New questions 3.15 (a) and (b)
To see the exact changes to the forms, click on the links below:
CON29 Tracked Changes 2016
CON29O Tracked Changes 2016
For a full breakdown of the launch process timeline, please visit The Law Society’s website here.
Anything else?
It is important to note that there is an intention for local authorities to apply VAT to their CON29 forms (which
we informed you about in January 2016). This was intended to take effect from 4th July, but has since been postponed until further notice. Some local authorities have yet to confirm whether they intend to absorb the extra cost, or increase their search price. To this effect, solicitors should take this into consideration when providing quotes.
As the only company to hold a national database of most of the available CON29 data on every property in England and Wales, we find ourselves in a unique position. At OneSearch, we have the ability to protect our solicitors from having to take a financial hit, or upsetting their clients with a higher-than-agreed bill.
OneSearch Prime, our Regulated Local Search, is available Nationwide, for a fixed price of £78.00 including VAT.
Backed by £10million PI cover, OneSearch Prime offers you clarity, consistency and security.
For those who have always ordered council searches over the years, we invite you to consider other options that are available. To assist you, we have created a handy comparison table for OneSearch Prime vs Council Searches.
Click here to view it.
You can also view a sample Regulated Local Search by
clicking here, and you can see the quality of our data for yourself.
To find out more, email us on
cs@onesearchdirect.co.uk or call
0800 052 0117.
