The purpose of a highways status enquiry is to find out the precise extent of the publicly maintainable highway adjoining a property and whether it immediately abuts the building line of the property.
Many retail and commercial premises in Cardiff have strips of footway abutting the building line, which are privately maintainable and the responsibility of the owner of the property, not the Council.
There are two ways of carrying out an enquiry:
Full land charge searches
Searches of the Land Charges Register are usually carried out by a solicitor acting on behalf of a prospective purchaser, although anyone is entitled to do so.
The purpose of a search is to disclose to interested parties any financial claims and other Council decision or restrictions that affect the property or parcel of land, nearby road schemes and traffic schemes.
The Council and the Law Society recommend that a full Local Land Charge Search be completed for all property transactions and that a purchaser should not rely solely on a Personal Search.
Request a full local land charge search.