Five Minutes On… - OneSearch

Planning permission is often spoken about as though it’s a simple yes or no; either the council approved it or they didn’t.

The reality is more nuanced. Most planning permissions come attached with conditions, and those conditions can be just as important as the permission itself. For buyers, understanding what conditions exist on a property – and whether they’ve been complied with – is an essential part of due diligence.

Here’s what you need to know, in just a five minute read:

What is a planning condition?

When a local planning authority grants permission for development, it frequently does so subject to conditions. These are requirements that must be met either before work starts, during construction, or after completion. They’re a standard tool of the planning system, used to make development acceptable in circumstances where an outright refusal would be difficult to justify but an unconditional approval would be inappropriate.

Conditions are attached to the planning permission itself – not to the applicant. That means they travel with the land. A buyer purchasing a property that was built, extended or altered subject to planning conditions inherits whatever obligations or restrictions those conditions created.

What kinds of conditions are commonly attached?

Planning conditions vary widely depending on the nature of the development and the concerns of the local planning authority. Common examples include:

Pre -commencement conditions – requiring specific details to be agreed with the council before any work begins, such as materials, drainage schemes or construction management plans
Occupancy restrictions – limiting who can live in a property, for example agricultural worker dwellings that must be occupied by someone employed in agriculture
Use restrictions – preventing a property or part of it from being used for certain purposes, such as prohibiting a garage from being converted into habitable accommodation
Landscaping and boundary conditions – requiring specific planting, screening or boundary treatments to be installed and maintained
Parking and access conditions – specifying how many parking spaces must be provided, or requiring that access arrangements are maintained in a particular way
Hours of operation – relevant where a planning permission relates to a mixed -use or commercial element of a property
Permitted development restrictions – removing the automatic planning rights that would ordinarily apply, requiring a full application for works that would otherwise not need one

Why do conditions matter for buyers?

A condition that hasn’t been complied with is a planning breach – even if the original applicant is long gone and the buyer had nothing to do with it. Local planning authorities have enforcement powers that can be exercised against the current owner of land, regardless of who carried out the original works.

Equally, a condition that restricts what the buyer can do with the property after purchase can significantly affect its value and usefulness. A buyer who plans to run a business from home, convert a garage, or extend a property may find that a condition attached to the original permission prevents exactly that – or requires a fresh application to the council.

How are planning conditions identified?

The planning history of a property – including any conditions attached to permissions – should be disclosed through the CON29 Required search and through the seller’s property information form. Planning decisions, including their conditions, are also publicly available on the local planning authority’s online register.

A conveyancer reviewing a property with a recent planning history should check not just whether permission was granted, but what conditions were attached and whether evidence of compliance exists. For conditions requiring pre -commencement approval of details, a discharge of conditions notice from the council provides the necessary confirmation.

What if a condition hasn’t been complied with?

Where a condition breach is identified, the conveyancer will need to assess the risk. Some breaches are historic and unlikely to attract enforcement action – local authorities generally have a ten -year window to enforce against breaches relating to the use of a building, and four years for operational development. Others may be more recent and carry genuine enforcement risk.

In cases where the breach is identified but the risk is considered manageable, a planning indemnity policy can provide protection. These policies are widely available and can be arranged relatively quickly, though they don’t resolve the underlying breach – they simply insure against its financial consequences.

Planning conditions are a routine part of how the planning system works – but routine doesn’t mean unimportant. A condition that hasn’t been discharged, or one that restricts what a buyer can do with their new home, is exactly the kind of issue that should surface before exchange rather than after. It’s one of many reasons why a thorough review of planning history is never wasted time.

Most buyers know a local search is happening somewhere in the background of their conveyance.

Far fewer know there’s a second layer of questions their conveyancer can ask – and that those questions can surface some of the most significant risks a property will ever face. The CON29 Optional schedule is one of the most underappreciated tools in the conveyancer’s kit.

Here’s what it is, what it covers, and why it matters.

What is the CON29O?

A standard local search is made up of two distinct parts. The CON29 Required questions are raised with every local authority as a matter of course – they cover the essentials of planning history, road adoption status, enforcement notices, and a range of statutory designations that apply to most properties in most locations.

The CON29O – the Optional schedule – is something different. It’s a separate set of enquiries that must be specifically selected and individually paid for. They don’t go automatically. The conveyancer reviews the property, considers its location and characteristics, and decides which optional questions are worth raising.

The word “optional” can be misleading. It doesn’t mean unimportant – it means targeted. Some of the most consequential information about a property will only appear if the right optional question is asked.

What does the CON29O cover?

The optional schedule spans a wide range of designations, consents and notices that fall outside the scope of the standard search. The full list includes:

Road proposals by private bodies – schemes being promoted by developers or private interests that haven’t yet been adopted by the highway authority, but which could still affect access or land value
Public right of way amendments – proposed changes to the definitive map that haven’t been finalised, which could affect access across or around the land
Pipelines – gas mains, hazardous substance pipelines and other below -ground infrastructure that may cross or run adjacent to the boundary
Hazardous substance consents – whether planning consent exists to store or handle hazardous materials in the vicinity of the property
Environmental and pollution notices – formal notices served under environmental protection legislation, which may indicate contamination or regulatory action nearby
Hedgerow notices – whether hedgerows on or bordering the land carry legal protection and what restrictions that places on removal or alteration
Scheduled Ancient Monuments – whether the land itself, or land immediately adjacent, has been designated as a scheduled monument and what that means for any works
World Heritage Sites – whether the property sits within, or on the edge of, a World Heritage Site designation or its associated buffer zone
Energy infrastructure – the presence of overhead lines, substations, pylons or related apparatus on or near the land, and any rights or restrictions attached to them
Wind and solar farm proximity – proposed or consented renewable energy installations that may affect outlook, noise levels or land use in the surrounding area

Each of these can have a direct bearing on what the buyer can do with the property, how easily they can develop or alter it, and in some cases whether it can be mortgaged or insured on standard terms.

Why doesn’t the standard search cover all of this?

The CON29 Required questions are designed to capture the designations and notices that are most commonly relevant across the widest range of properties. They work well for the majority of transactions. But the optional schedule exists precisely because property is varied – a rural smallholding near an ancient hillfort raises entirely different due diligence questions to a terraced house in a suburban street.

A standard search can return completely clean while a CON29O question reveals a scheduled monument beneath the garden, a high -voltage transmission line overhead, or a gas pipeline running through the boundary. None of those things will appear unless the question is specifically raised. The standard search isn’t failing – it’s just not designed to go that deep without prompting.

Who decides which optional questions to raise?

The conveyancer makes that judgement call. In practice, good conveyancers consider the type of property, its setting, its planning history, and any obvious features of the surrounding area before deciding which optional questions are worth the additional cost and time.

A property near Stonehenge warrants a World Heritage Site enquiry. A rural property in an area of intensive agriculture may warrant a hedgerow notice check. A house near a former industrial site may warrant an environmental notice search even if contaminated land isn’t flagged on the standard return.

Buyers are entitled to ask their conveyancer which optional questions are being raised – and why. A brief conversation at the start of the transaction can make sure nothing obviously relevant is being missed.

What happens if an optional question reveals something?

The local authority’s response to a CON29O question will either confirm that nothing is recorded, or set out what is. Where something is recorded – a scheduled monument designation, an energy infrastructure right of way, a pipeline easement – the conveyancer will need to consider what it means for the transaction.

In some cases the information is noted and the transaction proceeds without issue. In others it may require further investigation, specialist advice, or an indemnity policy. In rare cases it can affect whether the buyer’s lender is willing to proceed on standard mortgage terms.

The point is that knowing is always better than not knowing. A designation that’s disclosed before exchange is a manageable piece of information. One that surfaces after completion can be significantly more disruptive.

The CON29O isn’t a box-ticking exercise and it isn’t bureaucratic padding. It’s a targeted set of enquiries that can surface risks the standard local search was never designed to catch – risks that are real, that affect real properties, and that can have lasting consequences for buyers who weren’t told about them.

If your conveyancer is raising optional questions, they’re doing their job properly. The answers are worth reading carefully, and if something comes back, it’s worth asking what it means before the keys change hands.

If you’re advising a buyer, the new TA6 is less about what’s asked, and more about what isn’t.

The newly released 6th edition reduces seller disclosure, but it doesn’t reduce buyer risk. Knowing which gaps now need to be filled elsewhere is key.

For our latest Five Minutes On… article, we tackle the much discussed TA6 form. Lets get into it.

What the new TA6 no longer asks… and why that matters

The 6th edition strips out nine sections that appeared in the 5th edition. Several of them are directly relevant to search-based due diligence.

Coalfield or mining area – sellers are no longer asked to disclose whether a property sits in a former coalfield or mining area. That risk doesn’t go away. A CON29M or specialist mining search remains the appropriate way to surface it.
Coastal erosion – removed from the TA6 entirely. For properties in at-risk coastal zones, an environmental or specialist coastal erosion search is the only reliable source of this information.
Building safety – questions around cladding, remediation and the Building Safety Act have been taken out of the standard form. For leasehold properties in scope, the TA7 5th edition (updated alongside the TA6) picks up some of this – but the position on leaseholder deed of certificate, service charges and remediation funding still needs careful handling.
Restrictive covenants – sellers are no longer prompted to disclose these. Title investigation and, where appropriate, indemnity insurance remain the tools to address gaps here.

What hasn’t changed

The seller’s legal obligations haven’t moved. Misrepresentation and caveat emptor still apply. The form being shorter doesn’t reduce the buyer’s exposure to undisclosed risks – it just means fewer of those risks are being asked about upfront.

The Law Society has confirmed that solicitors’ professional liability position is unchanged. A shorter form doesn’t reduce the duty of care.

A well-constructed search pack was always the right approach. The TA6 6th edition makes the case for it even more clearly, with less being captured at the seller disclosure stage, searches are increasingly where the picture gets completed.

With less being asked of sellers upfront, it falls to structured due diligence to carry the weight of those missing disclosures. The TA6 has been streamlined, not the risks that sit behind it, and that distinction matters when you’re building a search pack that genuinely protects your buyer.

The OneSearch team can help you identify which searches fill the gaps for any transaction. Explore the full Five Minutes On… library here.

A blocked drain is an inconvenience. A public sewer running beneath your garden is a legal constraint that could prevent you building an extension, a garage, or even a garden room, potentially for the life of your ownership. Drainage searches exist to surface exactly these kinds of issues before exchange, not after.

Yet they remain one of the least understood searches in the conveyancing process.

Lets dive in with our latest Five Minutes On theme.

What is a drainage search?

A drainage and water search, formally the CON29DW, is a regulated search product that provides information about a property’s connection to the public water and sewerage network. It is produced using data held by the relevant water and sewerage company for the area, and is a standard part of the residential conveyancing search bundle.

It answers 23 standard questions, covering:

whether the property is connected to the public water supply and public sewer
whether any public sewers or water mains are within the boundary of the property
whether the property is at risk of internal sewer flooding
the location of the nearest public sewer
whether there are any current or planned drainage improvement schemes affecting the area
the identity of the sewerage and water undertaker responsible for the area

Why does it matter, the sewer within the boundary issue

The single most consequential result a drainage search can return is confirmation that a public sewer runs within, or close to, the property boundary. This matters for one critical reason: building over or near a public sewer without consent from the water company is not permitted.

Under the Water Industry Act 1991 and subsequent legislation, water companies have a statutory right to access public sewers for inspection and maintenance. A building constructed over a public sewer without a formal build-over agreement creates significant risk:

The water company may require the building to be demolished or modified
Mortgage lenders may decline to lend against properties with unresolved build-over issues
Future planning applications for extensions or outbuildings may be refused or conditioned
Indemnity insurance may be required to proceed, and is not always straightforward to obtain

It is worth noting that since 2011, when the adoption of private sewers transferred many previously private drains into public ownership, the number of properties affected by this issue increased significantly overnight. Many homeowners, and even some conveyancers, remain unaware that the drain they thought was private is now a public asset.

Sewer flooding risk, an increasingly relevant question

The CON29DW includes a question on whether the property has been, or is at risk of being, subject to internal flooding from public sewers. With ageing Victorian infrastructure, increased rainfall intensity linked to climate change, and growing pressure on combined sewer systems, this is a question that is becoming more material, not less.

A positive response to this question, indicating a history of or risk of sewer flooding, should prompt further enquiry. It may also affect buildings insurance, and buyers should be made aware of the implications before exchange.

What a drainage search does not cover

Understanding the boundaries of the CON29DW is just as important as understanding what it reveals. It does not cover:

Private drainage systems, septic tanks, cesspools, and private treatment plants are not covered. For rural properties or those not connected to mains drainage, a separate enquiry, and often a physical survey, is essential
Surface water flooding, the risk of flooding from surface water runoff is covered in an environmental search, not the drainage search
Drainage condition, the CON29DW confirms the existence and location of infrastructure, not its physical condition. A CCTV drain survey is required if condition is a concern
Ordinary watercourses, ditches, streams, and ordinary watercourses fall outside the scope of the CON29DW and may require separate enquiry of the Lead Local Flood Authority

How to read a drainage search result

Drainage search results have historically varied in format and clarity between providers, sometimes making it harder than it should be to identify the most important findings quickly. The most critical questions to check are:

Is the property connected to a public sewer? (If not, how is foul drainage managed?)
Are any public sewers within the boundary of the property?
Is there any history of, or risk of, internal sewer flooding?
Are there any current water or sewerage improvement schemes affecting the property?

Where the answer to any of these is unexpected or concerning, further enquiry of the water company, or a formal build-over agreement where relevant, should follow before exchange.

A clearer report for a critical search

OneSearch has recently refreshed its drainage and water search report, the OneSearch DW, with a focus on clarity and usability. The revamped report is designed to surface the most important results prominently, making it easier for conveyancers to identify issues quickly and communicate them clearly to clients.

In a search that can have significant implications for development potential, mortgage lending, and long-term ownership, a report that is easy to read and act on isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s an essential part of good conveyancing practice.

A drainage search is one of the most consistently valuable searches in the residential conveyancing bundle; not because it always reveals a problem, but because when it does, the implications can be serious, expensive, and not always easy to resolve.

Understanding what it covers, what it doesn’t, and how to read the results is one of the simplest ways a conveyancer can add real value to a client at the point when it matters most… before they commit.

Around 4.98 million homes in England are leasehold. For decades, the system governing those properties has been widely criticised as unfair, opaque, and costly for leaseholders.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act received Royal Assent in May 2024 – but here’s the thing most people miss: becoming law and coming into force are two very different things.

For conveyancers advising clients on leasehold transactions right now, knowing exactly what has changed, what hasn’t yet, and what’s still coming is essential, so here is the topic in 5 minutes:

What does the Act set out to do?

The Act’s aim is to make it easier, cheaper and fairer for leaseholders to extend their lease or buy their freehold. Its headline changes include:

990-year lease extensions – up from 90 years for flats and just 50 years for houses
Removal of marriage value – eliminating the premium leaseholders currently pay on leases under 80 years, potentially saving thousands
No freeholder cost recovery – leaseholders will no longer have to pay their landlord’s legal and valuation costs when making an enfranchisement or extension claim
Ban on new leasehold houses – all newly built houses must be sold freehold (with very limited exceptions)
Service charge transparency – standardised service charge formats, insurance commission bans, and easier Tribunal challenges
Right to Manage expanded – the non-residential floorspace threshold raised from 25% to 50%, allowing more buildings to qualify

What is actually in force right now?

This is where it gets important. Most of the Act’s provisions require secondary legislation before they take effect. As of early 2026, only three tranches of the Act are live:

From 24 July 2024: rentcharge enforcement rules and certain Building Safety Act amendments
From 31 January 2025: removal of the two-year ownership requirement – leaseholders can now pursue a lease extension or enfranchisement claim immediately on purchase, without waiting two years
From 3 March 2025: Right to Manage threshold increased from 25% to 50% non-residential floorspace; RTM companies no longer automatically liable for landlord’s costs on a claim notice

All other provisions, including the 990-year extensions, removal of marriage value, and the ban on new leasehold houses, remain to be commenced by statutory instrument. The government has not confirmed a timetable for the remaining provisions, and a judicial review challenging aspects of the valuation methodology is ongoing, which may affect implementation further.

What’s still coming – and what to watch for

Beyond the Act itself, the government has signalled further leasehold reform ahead:

Commonhold revival – plans to ban the creation of new leasehold flats and reinvigorate commonhold as the default tenure for flats
Ground rent regulation – proposals to cap or regulate ground rents for existing leases (ground rent abolition for new leases is already in force under the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022)
Forfeiture reform – ending the ability for freeholders to forfeit a lease over debts as low as £350, a provision widely regarded as disproportionate
Valuation rates – deferment and capitalisation rates (the key figures for calculating lease extension premiums) still need to be prescribed; until they are, significant valuation uncertainty remains

What does this mean for conveyancers today?

The practical implications of what is already in force are significant:

Short leases on purchase: buyers can now instruct a lease extension claim immediately on completion, removing the previous two-year wait. For leases approaching 80 years, this changes the advice conversation considerably
Leases under 80 years: marriage value still applies under current law. Buyers need to understand this clearly – the savings anticipated when marriage value is eventually removed are not yet available
Valuation uncertainty: with prescribed rates not yet set, premium quotes from different surveyors may vary significantly. Managing client expectations around cost is important
Timing decisions: some leaseholders may be weighing whether to extend now or wait for the more favourable terms to arrive. There is no single right answer – it depends on lease length, ground rent, and individual circumstances

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act is a landmark piece of legislation – but it is being implemented in stages, and most of its headline changes are not yet in force. The gap between the Act becoming law and its provisions taking effect is one of the most common sources of confusion for clients and practitioners alike.

For conveyancers, staying current with each commencement order as it arrives is essential – because the advice you give today may look quite different from the advice that will be appropriate in twelve months’ time.

Nutrient neutrality has quietly become one of the most significant blockers in residential conveyancing, stalling new build transactions across 74 local planning authority areas in England.

It isn’t a planning policy. It isn’t a local authority designation. It’s an environmental legal obligation rooted in European case law, and it has delayed the delivery of an estimated 160,000+ new homes.

The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 has set out a new route through the problem, but for now, nutrient neutrality remains live, real, and directly relevant to new build transactions in affected catchments.

Lets squeeze all the knowledge on this new topic into a five minute read.

What is nutrient neutrality?

Nutrient neutrality is the requirement that new housing development must not add additional nitrogen or phosphorus pollution to protected river catchments that are already in poor environmental condition.

It stems from the ‘Dutch Nitrogen Case,’ a 2018 Court of Justice of the EU ruling which established that environmental mitigation measures must be certain and in place before planning permission can be granted, not promised for the future. Natural England applied this ruling to English river catchments, and the consequence has been that planning permission in affected areas can only be granted where a developer can demonstrably offset any additional nutrient load their development would create.

The irony is stark: new homes contribute less than 1% of the nitrogen and phosphorus entering affected rivers. Agriculture and wastewater treatment are overwhelmingly the dominant sources. But it is housing development, not farming, that bears the burden of proof.

Where does it apply?

Nutrient neutrality applies to 27 river catchments spanning 74 local planning authority areas across England. The most affected include:

The Solent catchment (Hampshire and surrounding areas)
The River Wye (Herefordshire and into Wales)
The Norfolk Broads and River Wensum
The Somerset Levels and Moors
Poole Harbour and the River Stour
The River Tees and Cleveland Coast
The River Eden, River Derwent, and Bassenthwaite Lake (Cumbria)

The affected area has been growing, not shrinking. New catchments have been added over time, and the issue is expected to expand further as more protected sites are assessed.

What does it mean for a new build transaction?

For conveyancers acting on new build purchases in affected catchments, nutrient neutrality can affect transactions at multiple stages:

Planning permission: developers must demonstrate nutrient neutrality before permission is granted. Where credits aren’t available or mitigation isn’t in place, permission is refused or delayed.
Discharge of conditions: some sites have planning permission but are caught at the discharge of planning conditions stage, where nutrient evidence must be approved before construction can begin.
Completion delays: even where construction has started, legal completion may depend on mitigation being formally signed off.
Credit costs: developers typically pay £2,500 to £10,000 per home for nutrient credits, depending on the catchment , costs which can affect viability and pricing.

What is changing with Nutrient Neutrality

The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 introduces Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) and a Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) as the long-term solution to nutrient neutrality and similar environmental blockers.

Rather than each developer arranging their own bespoke mitigation, the new system works like this:

Natural England prepares an EDP for a specific catchment, identifying strategic nature recovery measures.
Developers pay a levy into the NRF rather than sourcing individual credits.
Natural England delivers the environmental improvements at catchment scale.
Once an EDP is in place, development in that catchment can proceed without site-by-site mitigation.

The first EDPs are expected to cover nutrient neutrality catchments, with public consultation anticipated in spring/summer 2026. Until EDPs are formally adopted for a catchment, the existing nutrient neutrality regime continues to apply in full.

How does this appear in property searches?

Nutrient neutrality is not directly flagged in a standard CON29 or LLC search. However, an environmental search for a new build property in an affected catchment may indicate the relevant protected habitat designations, Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) or Special Protection Areas (SPAs), that underpin the nutrient neutrality requirement.

For conveyancers acting on new build transactions, the most important checks are:

confirming whether the site falls within a nutrient neutrality catchment.
checking that the developer has obtained and evidenced appropriate nutrient credits or mitigation.
reviewing planning conditions and their discharge status carefully
monitoring EDP developments for the relevant catchment as the NRF comes into effect.

Nutrient neutrality is one of those issues that sounds technical and obscure until it stops a transaction in its tracks. For conveyancers working in affected catchments, it is a live and material consideration on every new build instruction.

The Nature Restoration Fund offers a credible route through the problem, but it will take time to land. In the meantime, knowing which catchments are affected, what mitigation looks like, and where the transaction sits in the process is essential knowledge for any conveyancer advising on new build property.