Property Conveyancing

How to get a property certificate

If the property is located in the borough, your solicitor completes a standard application form and sends it to us.  We answer 24 standard questions agreed between the Law Society, The Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Northern Ireland Local Government Association.

The questions cover areas such as:

• Building Regulations
• Licensing
• Environmental Health
• Postal Numbering
• and other issues which might have a bearing on the sale of the property

After answering the questions relating to building control issues, we then circulate the certificate electronically to other relevant departments to answer questions specific to them.

Once all replies have been received, the answers are merged into a single official property certificate reply and returned to the requesting solicitors.

Our target is to return certificates within 10 working days from date of receipt.

Where specific queries arise regarding historic applications, Council hold application data dating back to 1973 and can assist with property searches.

Is there a cost?

The standard Northern Ireland fee for a property certificate is £90 which covers a search period of 10 years back from the date of the application which is the relevant time period as recommended by the Law Society.  For a longer search period to be carried out a supplemental fee will be applied.