Land Charges system to launch on Monday 13 July following major upgrade
10 July 2026
Joint statement from Cllr Maggie Filipova-Rivers, Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, and Cllr Bethia Thomas, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council:
“We want to start by offering our sincere apologies to everyone who has been impacted by the downtime of our Land Charges system. We fully recognise the frustration and uncertainty this has caused for residents, businesses and professionals who rely on this service.
“We have been communicating with those affected throughout this process and want to thank everyone for their understanding while our teams have been working to resolve the issues and complete the transition.
“We are pleased to confirm that the new Land Charges system will launch on Monday 13 July, following final testing to ensure the system is working correctly and returning accurate searches. This final stage has been essential because these searches are relied upon for important property decisions, and inaccurate information could cause significant problems forthose using the service and potentially create legal liability for the council.
“Our priority now is to reduce the impact of the disruption. Due to the downtime, there will be a backlog of searches to process, and we are putting additional resources in place to work through outstanding requests as quickly as possible and mitigate any further delays.
“If you have already submitted a search request by email, please do not submit the same request again through the new portal. Existing requests are already recorded and will be processed. Anyone wishing to use the new system will need to register for an account, with details available on our website.
“This upgrade has been a significant and complex project, replacing systems that had been in place for a very long time, over three decades at South Oxfordshire and over a decade at Vale of White Horse. The previous system was being discontinued by the supplier, meaning we needed to move to a new platform to ensure the service remains reliable, supported and able to meet future needs.
“The transition has been particularly challenging because this is not simply one system being replaced. Land Charges relies on several interconnected systems linked with other council services including planning, environmental information and mapping. It has been essential to make sure these connections work properly so that searches provide accurate information.
“As elected leaders, we will also be reflecting on the implementation of this project, including the processes, planning and challenges encountered, to understand what lessons can be learned and if disruption could have been reduced.
“Thank you again to everyone for your patience and understanding while we complete this important improvement to our services.”
