12th April 2023

How to find out who owns a property

Whether it is part of your job role to find out who currently owns an occupied or vacant property, or you’re considering buying a new place and want to carry out a property owner search out of sheer curiosity, there are a multitude of reasons as to why people might want to find the owner of a particular house or plot of land. Whatever your reasoning behind this is, you will be pleased to know that finding out who owns land or property in the UK is a much easier and straightforward process than you might think. There is no need to go through the gruelling process of filling in countless forms for hours on end, or to go to the library to locate this information. The process is quick and easy, and only requires some simple online research. 

While there are a number of ways to find out who owns a property, for most of us, the easiest and most inexpensive way of doing so is by using HM Land Registry. Even though requesting information such as the history of ownership of a property comes at a small fee, this method is much simpler compared to other ways of seeking out the owner of a house or piece of land.

In this blog, we will be sharing our expertise through a step-by-step guide on how to find out who owns a property or plot of land. We’ll also discuss how you can find additional information including the price the owner paid before making an offer on, or bidding for, a house or area of land. Read on as we guide you through the most safe and reliable ways to carry out your property owner search so you can access accurate and up-to-date information with ease.

How to find out who owns a property step-by-step

Whatever your reasons are for finding out who owns a property, HM Land Registry offers a number of services that include a broad range of information which is available at varying prices, starting with a Property Summary service. This particular service is free to use, but will only provide you with limited information, such as the property’s address, a brief description of the property, the ‘tenure’ (ownership) type of the property, and the price it was last sold for. To access this information, you only need to know the postcode or street name of the house, or you can search by map. 

If you’re looking for more information than provided by the Property Summary, we would recommend accessing the Title Register, which requires a small fee. This can be done for most properties in England and Wales through the following steps.

What is a title register?

Available to purchase through the land and property registry, the Title Register report includes the title number (the unique reference code assigned to the registered property), the property/land owner, information regarding any easements affecting the property and any mortgage information held (including the lender’s name and address and whether the mortgage has been discharged).

What is the difference between title registry and title plan?

The main difference between the Title Plan and the Title Register is that, while the latter provides the property information listed in the above FAQ, the Title Plan provides additional information on the location of a property, as well as its general (non-specific) boundaries.

How to access the title register of a property

1. The Title Register document is available to buy through the land and property registry. To access this, press ‘start now’ and enter the postcode or street name of your chosen property.
2. Once you’ve found the property you’re looking for and are on the Property Summary, scroll to the bottom of the page and press ‘view available documents.’ Once you have clicked on this, you will need to select ‘create an account’ and enter your email address, a password, your full name, phone number and home address before accepting the terms of use. 
3. The Title Register and Title Plan will then appear, which can both be purchased for a small fee of £3 each. As mentioned above, the Title Plan provides you with the information on the location of a property, so if you also need this for your research, you can purchase both together. It’s worth noting, however, that in some cases the Title Plan can’t be downloaded online. If this is the case, you can request it to be sent by post, which costs £7 per document.
4. If you wish to buy either of these documents, press ‘continue’ then check the boxes of the documents you require, before selecting ‘continue’ again. 
5. Enter your debit or credit card information to purchase either or both of the documents before completing the payment and accessing the documents.
6. Finally, it’s important to remember that if you need an official copy of the register, for instance, to use as proof of ownership in a court case, do not follow the steps above. Instead, fill in Form OC1 before posting this to the land registry accompanied by the fee.

As well as including the information listed above, such as the property owner, the Title Register is a highly useful document that can be used to find out other valuable information on a property, such as a record of historical sale prices. Revealing how the prices have changed over time, this document can also be used as an indicator that something might be wrong with the property. For instance, if it had multiple owners in a short period.

In most cases, reading and interpreting the Title Register document does not require a detailed understanding of the property market. This means there is usually no need to seek additional guidance, which may come with an extra cost. 

Accessing the flood risk report

If you are looking to move to a property or purchase a plot of land and are searching for some information on the flood risk before you go any further, the Flood Risk Indicator is also available on the HM Land Registry. This allows you to check current flood warnings or the long-term flood risk for an area for free. Alternatively, you could also access a flooding history report, which is available on request, but could incur fees depending on the time required to produce the report. 

While buyers may want to access this information while performing due diligence before making a purchase, some sellers may be required to provide a flood risk indicator report when listing their property. Whether this is necessary or not depends on the location of the property, and if it is in a known flood risk zone.

How can I find out the owner of a property in Scotland or Northern Ireland?

While the above services are available for properties in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own registries. If you’re searching for information regarding the owners of properties within the borders of Scotland or Northern Ireland, you will need to go directly to their registries and fees will also differ.

For Scotland, you can access property information, including the owner of the property and property prices for free from Scotland’s Land Information Service and further information can also be bought for a small fee. While, in Northern Ireland, a wider range of fees apply to search and copy records from the Northern Ireland Land Registry. However, if you’re simply looking for the current owner of a property in Northern Ireland, you can pay a £5 fee to see a property folio, or a £7 fee to take an uncertified copy of that folio.

Find properties and land in the UK with SDL Property Auctions

At SDL Property Auctions, we’re proud to offer a wide range of property and land types across England, Scotland and Wales. We also welcome all of our sellers and buyers to conduct the necessary research before they place a bid on their chosen commercial or residential property, or plot of land. 

If you have any questions on buying or selling your property by auction, or are on the lookout for your perfect investment, contact us or request a free sales valuation.