The land Registry was brought into force with the Land Registration act of 1925. Until this point there had been several attempts to centralise land ownership details but none had the success of this act. The land registration act of 2002 leaves the 1925 system in place but enables introduction of electronic signatures to transfer and register property.
Now all land and property transactions result in compulsory registration which over time should mean that all land and property in England and Wales is registered with the Land Registry so finding the owner of a property should become a simpler task. At the moment however over a third of all land in England and Wales is still unregistered.
Unregistered land is land that is not registered with the Land Registry; this does not mean that the land is not owned.
Title Register
You can use several companies to obtain official
Land Registry title register or you can set up an account and go directly to Land Registry. If you have a deep understanding of the contents of the documents you want then going directly to Land Registry would be the cheapest option but if you are less sure of the contents and how to read them you can go to an independent company who for an additional fee, will be able to obtain the documents and talk you through the information contained within them.
The Land registry does not make documents easy to understand, some information is hidden in jargon and words such as Charges, Restrictions and covenant can sometimes confuse.
The Title Register should give you some if not all of the following information:
• Property owner
• What the property was bought for
• When the current owner bought the property
• Any restrictions that are in place in relation to future sale of the property
• Any covenants on the property
• Who the mortgage is with
If you require any of this information, maybe in reaction to a rundown property you are considering buying then the Title Register is the place to start.
The title register does not contain the current owners address, for example you may wish to purchase a rundown empty property, the title register will tell you who owns the property but will not tell you where they currently live. You would have to instruct a
people finder UK company for this purpose.
If the property has been repossessed it will tell you which banks had placed restrictions on the sale of the property, this can allow you to contact the correct bank that have repossessed the property and obtain further information about its resale.
The Title Register will also let you know if there are any covenants on the property.
Covenants
A Covenant is an agreement made between the covenantee (who takes the benefit) and the covenanter (who takes the burden). A Covenant is an obligation entered into by deed which affects the use of land for the benefit of another. There are restrictive covenants and affirmative covenants.
Affirmative Covenants – such as an agreement between adjoining land owners to build a fence.
Restrictive Covenants – Not to use the land for commercial purposes.
Title plans
Title plans allow you to look at the boundary lines for a property. You can look at the boundary lines for any property. For example you could look at several properties to see where their boundary lines where to ascertain which of the properties (if any) owned a section of land.
You could also use them to help with Boundary disputes between yourself and a neighbour.
You can obtain title plans directly from Land registry if you have the title number which is on the title register.
The title plan may differentiate different areas by colour tinting to show where different covenants apply to discrete parts of the land.
There are several companies that will obtain the information on your behalf and some of the better ones will go further and explain the contents of the documents.
And finally...
The most important thing when conducting your own Land Registration enquires is to gather the facts discreetly and use the information you find in a positive way. The information is in the public domain but understanding the information may require further help. Good Luck with your investigations.
