Local land charges and how obligations appear on title
Section 106 obligations, enforcement notices and Article 4 directions all appear on the local land charges register. Planning conditions generally do not, which is where sales come unstuck.
A local land charge planning entry is a burden on land that binds whoever owns it next. Planning obligations, enforcement notices, tree preservation orders, Article 4 directions and community infrastructure levy liability all appear on the register, and a buyer's solicitor finds them through an official search before exchange.
What the register does not contain surprises people. Planning permissions and their conditions are generally not local land charges. They are revealed through the separate enquiries a solicitor makes of the local authority, which is why a self-builder who has satisfied every condition can still find the transaction held up by a charge nobody remembered.
What the local land charges register records
The register exists under the Local Land Charges Act 1975 and records interests and restrictions imposed by public bodies. It is a register of burdens, not of ownership, and it sits alongside rather than inside the title at the Land Registry.
Historically each local authority kept its own register. Responsibility has been moving to a single digital register held by the Land Registry, area by area, and where a district has migrated the search is made centrally rather than through the council. The practical effect for an applicant is small, but it changes who you contact to correct an entry.
Entries relevant to development include planning obligations under section 106, community infrastructure levy liability and demand notices, enforcement notices, breach of condition notices and stop notices, tree preservation orders, Article 4 directions, listed building status, and various financial charges such as those securing works carried out in default by the council.
A charge takes effect from registration and stays until it is cancelled. Nothing removes it automatically.
How a planning obligation reaches the register
A section 106 agreement is entered into between the landowner and the local planning authority, usually before permission is granted. Once completed, the authority registers it as a local land charge against the land it binds.
Two features make obligations different from conditions. They bind successors in title, so the person who bought the last plot on a site inherits whatever the deed says applies to that land. And they can require payments, which is why a search revealing an unpaid contribution stops a sale.
Self-builders meet this most often on a plot carved out of a larger site. The parent site may be subject to an agreement covering the whole holding, and unless the deed was drafted to release individual plots on completion of the relevant obligation, the charge sits over the plot as well. Ask for the deed itself, not a summary, and read the definition of the land and the release provisions.
Unilateral undertakings work the same way. So do agreements made under highways legislation for works to the public highway, which are registered separately but appear in the same search results.
Conditions, enforcement notices and article 4 directions
Enforcement notices are registrable and they are the entry that most often derails a transaction. A notice served years ago and never formally withdrawn continues to appear even where the breach was remedied, because remedying the breach does not cancel the entry.
Breach of condition notices and stop notices appear too. So do tree preservation orders, which is useful, because a purchaser can see that the mature oak in the garden is protected before they plan an extension around it.
Article 4 directions are registrable and they matter for anyone buying with an eye to permitted development. A direction withdrawing householder rights, or the rights that allow a house to become a small house in multiple occupation, changes what the property can be used for, and the search is where a buyer finds it.
Planning conditions themselves generally do not appear. Neither does a planning permission. A buyer relying only on the land charges search will not see that the extension was approved subject to conditions, which is why the wider enquiries of the local authority matter, and why an agricultural occupancy condition can be missed by anyone who checks only the charges register.
What a search reveals to a buyer
An official search of the register produces a certificate listing registered charges affecting the land, by reference to the plan supplied. The plan matters: a search against the wrong extent returns a clean certificate for the wrong land.
The certificate says what is registered. It does not say whether the obligation has been performed, whether the enforcement notice was complied with, or whether the tree in question is still standing. Those questions are answered by the underlying documents, and a careful solicitor asks for them.
Where a charge is revealed late, the transaction usually pauses while the parties work out who bears the risk. Retentions, indemnities and price adjustments all get used. None of them is as satisfactory as having dealt with the entry in advance.
Getting a discharged obligation removed
Cancellation is an administrative act, and it needs somebody to ask for it.
- Identify the charge by its register reference and obtain a copy of the underlying document.
- Assemble evidence that the obligation has been performed: receipts for financial contributions, correspondence confirming compliance, certificates of practical completion, transfer documents for land or affordable units.
- Write to the registering authority asking for cancellation, attaching the evidence and identifying the land by plan.
- Where the obligation was partly performed or applies to part only, ask for a partial cancellation or a deed of release for the relevant land.
- Chase, because this work sits low in most legal teams' priorities and nothing forces it forward.
Where an obligation no longer serves a useful purpose, section 106A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows it to be discharged or modified by agreement at any time, and by application after five years. That is a different exercise from cancelling a spent charge, and it takes longer.
For enforcement notices, ask the authority to confirm compliance in writing and then to cancel the entry. Where the notice was complied with long ago and the council has no record, contemporaneous evidence carries the day, in the same way that the evidence needed for a certificate of lawfulness has to be dated and specific.
Errors in the register and how to correct them
Registers contain mistakes. Entries are made against the wrong plot, cancellations are not recorded, and migrated data carries errors forward.
The 1975 Act provides a compensation route where a person suffers loss because a charge was not registered when it should have been, or because an official search certificate failed to reveal a registered charge. The right is against the registering authority and it is subject to conditions, so take advice rather than assuming a payment follows automatically.
Correcting an error is usually simpler than claiming for it. Write to the registering authority with the evidence, identify the land precisely, and ask for the entry to be amended or removed. Keep the correspondence, because the corrected certificate is the document that satisfies a lender.
Why this matters before a sale
Deal with the register when the work finishes, not when the buyer's solicitor asks.
At practical completion, gather the evidence of compliance for every obligation, request cancellation of anything spent, and obtain a fresh official search to confirm the position. On a self-build that means the section 106 contributions, the levy demand notice, any highways agreement and any conditions the council secured through a unilateral undertaking.
The cost is a few letters and a search fee. The alternative is a price reduction agreed under time pressure, months later, over an entry that could have been cleared in a fortnight.
This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. Browse the report index to see the documents a planning application is likely to need.
Frequently asked questions
Do planning permissions appear on the local land charges register?
Generally no. The register records burdens such as planning obligations, enforcement notices, tree preservation orders, Article 4 directions and levy liability. Planning permissions and their conditions are revealed through the separate enquiries a solicitor makes of the local authority, so a buyer relying only on the charges search will miss them.
Does complying with an enforcement notice remove it from the register?
No. The entry stays until it is formally cancelled, and remedying the breach does not do that by itself. Ask the authority to confirm compliance in writing and then to cancel the entry. Where the council has no record of the works, dated contemporaneous evidence usually settles it.
How do I get a spent section 106 obligation cancelled?
Identify the charge and obtain the underlying deed, assemble evidence that the obligation has been performed such as payment receipts and completion certificates, and write to the registering authority asking for cancellation with a plan identifying the land. Where only part is performed, ask for a partial cancellation or a deed of release.
Who holds the register now?
Responsibility has been moving from individual local authorities to a single digital register held by the Land Registry, area by area. Where a district has migrated, the official search is made centrally rather than through the council, which changes who you contact to correct an entry rather than the effect of the charge itself.
Can I claim compensation for a missed charge?
The Local Land Charges Act 1975 provides a compensation route where loss is suffered because a charge was not registered when it should have been, or because an official search certificate failed to reveal a registered charge. The right is against the registering authority and subject to conditions, so take advice rather than assuming payment follows.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.