The Local Land Charges (LLC) team at North Devon Council has made the shortlist for the Best Performing Local Land Charges Department, at the 2024 Land Data Awards for Excellence - the only awards to recognise excellence and achievement in the profession.

For this award, the judging panel assesses NLIS Hub data collected between 1 October 2022 -  30 September 2023 on electronic turnaround times, the level of overdue searches, search accuracy and volumes, which are weighted against transactional volumes for the authority's area. The results are combined and ranked to create the shortlist.  

The council's LLC team manages thousands of conveyancing searches each year and is an essential part of the home buying and selling process for residents. Nearly every search result goes back within one working day providing an efficient service for the local conveyancing market. The team have previously won the award six times since 2013.

The winners of the Best Performing Local Land Charges Department award, sponsored by NLIS, will be announced at the Land Data Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence on 4 March 2024, at the Radisson Blu Hotel, East Midlands Airport.

Land Charges Manager at North Devon Council, Rob Bates, says: “Our ethos is simple, accuracy, speed and quality at a cost price. In a highly competitive market our local knowledge is invaluable and unmatched. Buying a house is one of the biggest decisions you can make and we pride ourselves that conveyancers and house buyers can rely on us and the other units and authorities to provide them with the most accurate information to make the correct decision.”

Chief Executive of Land Data, Fiona Barron, says: “Local Land Charge teams are specialists in their discipline, without their knowledge and expertise, the home moving sector simply couldn’t function! During these difficult times for Local Authorities, the level of diligence, customer service and commitment shown by these teams is exemplary. Their hard work thoroughly deserves to be recognised with these awards.”

The awards for Best Performing Local Land Charges Department, Levels 2 and 3, will be presented as part of the Local Land Charges Training & Development event on 4 and 5 March 2024. Other award categories include Customer Satisfaction, Local Authority Searches Team of the Year, Best Performing Searches Team Member, Best Performing Migrated Local Authority and the Unsung Hero Award.

Since their launch in 2008, the annual Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence remain the only national awards celebrating the achievements and successes of Local Authority Local Land Charges departments across England and Wales.