Finding out who owns a property

Property Ownership

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Article Summary

The simplest and quickest way to find out who owns a property is to obtain a copy of the Land Registry Title Register. Nearly all properties in England and Wales are now registered with the Land Registry and each registered property is provided with its own unique Title Register which contains the name and address of the property owner in its B section.

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Obtain the Title Register

The simplest and quickest way to find out who owns a property (short of calling to the property or asking a neighbour) is to obtain a copy of the Land Registry Title Register. Nearly all properties in England and Wales are now registered with the Land Registry and each registered property is provided with its own unique Title Register and Title Plan. Sometimes there is both a freehold ownership and a leasehold ownership of the same property, so there may be more than one title for a property. This is more often so in the case of flats.

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The Ownership Section of the Register is the B Section

The Title Register is divided into 3 sections - (A, B and C sections). a quick look in the B section will show you the name and address of the registered owner, which may be at the property address or at another address (e.g. where the owner lets the property).

Sample extract from the ownership details in the B Section of a Title Register

1   (15.11.1993)    PROPRIETOR: NEVILLE CHURTE of Tavistock Road, Litchfield WS7 3XL.

2   (15.11.1993)    The price stated to have been paid on 10 October 1993 was £475,000.

Sometimes the owner moves from the property but doesn't realise he should update his address at the Land Registry. In this event, trying to trace the owner is not straight forward. One way to do so is to look in the C section of the Register. If there is a mortgage listed the mortgagee almost always knows the owner's new address, and so a stamped addressed envelope could be sent to the mortgagee asking them to pass a letter on.

Many people have now taken advantage of the Land Registry's initiative in fraud prevention by allowing owners to provide up to 3 different contact addresses for them. If there are 3 joint owners there could be as many as 9 different addresses. The contact addresses may include an email address and/or an address Abroad.

You can obtain a copy of the Title Register from us. Our charge is £19.95. This includes a detailed guidebook that illustrates how to get the most from your Title Register, whether it be the ownership details or any other matter relating to the Register.

Where a property does not have a postal address please select Searching by Map.

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Freehold or Leasehold

As properties, particularly flats, often have a freehold and leasehold ownership, our application form provides an option to select the tenure of the property. If you are not sure please select "not sure"; otherwise, you should select either "freehold" or "leasehold". If you want to obtain a copy of the title register for a flat, it will usually be the "leasehold" tenure that you will be wanting.