Stakeholders in property registration

1. Who are the main users of property information?

• Professional users (Solicitors)
• Licensed conveyancers
• Banks/financial institutions
• Personal applicants
• Citizens seeking to establish property information
• Historical/genealogical researchers
• Other Government Departments/Agencies
• Re-use of public sector information providers
• Other-specify

All of the above, plus journalists, academic researchers, police and other investigators.

2. How is land registry information stored? Is it in electronic or paper format?

Mainly in electronic format. Some old paper files remain to be scanned. That process is continuing.

3. How is that information obtained?

From the deeds and documents sent by applicants. The maps for Land Registry plans are obtained from Ordnance Survey, but Land Registry creates the title plans based on those maps and the information provided by the deeds and documents lodged for registration. Sometimes the Land Registry will commission a survey of the land if there is any doubt about the position of the boundary.

4. Is the register open to the public?

Yes. The public can inspect and make copies of the register, and request official copies.

5. If not, in what circumstances is access to title information granted?

Not applicable, see answer 4.

6. Is there a fee for the information?

Yes. Mostly – £3 each for the register and plan for online inspection and copying, £7 each for paper copies, £11 for online inspection and copying of a lease, and £23 for a paper copy of a lease.

7. What information is provided on the register?

The register is in three parts:

1. The property register contains – a description of the estate by reference to a plan, plus included or excluded mines and minerals if any, and easements which benefit the estate. If the estate is leasehold, details of the lease must be included, and a note that the lease prohibits or restricts dispositions of the estate, if that is the case.

2. The proprietorship register contains –

a.     The class of title

b.     The name of the proprietor, and the company registered number if it is a company

c.      Up to three addresses for service

d.     Restrictions

e.      Any entries relating to the bankruptcy of the proprietor

f.       Any positive covenants given by the parties to a conveyance, including indemnity covenants

g.     Details of any modification of covenants that are implied by statute.

3. The charges register contains –

a.     Details of charges, leases and any other interests which adversely affect the registered estate, including the address for service of a chargee

b.     Restrictions affecting the chargee

c.      Any entries relating to the bankruptcy of a chargee

8. If more information is available “off register” in what circumstances can it be accessed?

Any person can inspect and make copies of, or request official copies of –

• Any document kept by the registrar which is referred to in the register
• Any other document kept by the registrar which relates to an application to him
• The register of cautions against first registration.

Some documents have been excluded from the right to inspect by the Land Registration Rules 2003, for instance, identity documents and investigation of crime documents.

In addition, the registrar must keep an index of proprietor’s names. Anyone can search this index in relation to their own name or the name of a company, and the search will reveal all the title numbers of which they are a registered proprietor. But only a very limited number of people can search the index in relation to the names of private individuals, because the data revealed would be personal data, in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.

9. Is any information provided free of charge?

Copies of the register, title plan and documents are all subject to a statutory fee. The registrar does publish some information free of charge, for instance price paid data, house price index, and transaction data.

10. Is it available online?

For business customers who have an on-line account, most applications and most results can be delivered on-line. The service is available from 0630 to 2300 hours every day.

For private citizens copies of the register and title plans can be viewed and downloaded on-line, but copies of documents must be ordered by means of a paper form, with paper results sent to them (this is for security reasons). The citizens’ on-line service is open 24/7.

11. How is payment made?

For online services, business customers pay by direct debit. Citizens pay be debit or credit card.

For paper services, payments are made by cheque.

12. How long does it take to receive property information?

In most cases of on-line ordering, the result is received immediately

13. If a paper/certified copy of title information is required, how long does it take to issue?

Business customers ordering on-line cannot request a paper copy of results. Paper copies will be issued only if:

• The document exceeds ten megabytes in size, or
• It exceeds 200 pages, or
• It exceeds A3 size, or
• The register or title plan or document is not kept in electronic form.

If a business customer or private citizen uses a paper form to order copies of the register or a document, the application will be processed on the business day on which it is received, and the result posted that day.

14. Is the information linked to a map?

The customer can also order a copy of the title plan. If a map is part of a document, that will be included in the copy.

15. How is the map accessed-at the same time as the request for title information?

Yes, they can both be ordered at the same time, either on-line or in the same paper form.

If a customer does not know the title number of the property, or whether it is registered, they can do an online search for the property using the aerial land locator or the address of the property. There is a small fee for this service. Alternatively they can request a search of the index map using a paper form.

16. What other services are provided by your organisation

Many detailed Practice Guides for conveyancers, and Public Guides for citizens are published free of charge on-line or on request for paper, and all statutory forms are available free of charge on line or on request for paper.

The following commercial services are available:

Ownership change indicator. Used by: local authorities only. Get a monthly record of the residential property that changes ownership within your administrative area. This can help you minimise delays when obtaining names of new occupants, speed up the creation of council tax accounts and enrich the information within your database.

Classic Data Matching. Used by utility companies, solicitors and conveyancers, debt recovery firms, lenders, local authorities. Confirm addresses and append reliable property ownership information to your records. Designed for customers who want to match up to 10,000 rows of data.

Volume Data Matching. Used by utility companies. Confirm addresses and append reliable property ownership information to your records. Designed for customers with very large files that have more than 100,000 rows of data.

Online Data Matching. Used by solicitors and conveyancers, retail, debt recovery firms, consultants. Confirm addresses and append reliable property ownership information to your records. Designed for customers who need a business to business solution that provides instant verification

Electronic Extent Data (polygons). Used by local authorities, land and property consultants and developers, infrastructure companies and utilities. View the extent of specified registered titles as multi-sided flat shapes (polygons) on a map through your Geographic Information System (GIS) software.

Illustrative Plans. Used by solicitors and conveyancers, infrastructure companies and utilities. Get an accurate pictorial representation of how multiple title numbers obtained from a search of the index map (SIM) relate to each other against the Ordnance Survey map.

Price paid information. Used by property price websites, media, Smartphone application developers, data analysts and estate agents. Get free and low-cost data about residential property sales in England and Wales. Our price paid dataset is one of the most reliable sources of house price information available.

Standard reports. Used by local authorities, data analysts, developers, media and members of the public. Buy aggregated house price reports for specified geographical areas of England and Wales. The reports are based on the actual price paid for properties

Cash/Mortgage Indicator. Used by lenders and data analysts. Purchase our trusted quarterly data on financed and unfinanced residential property sales to help you identify trends in the housing market

Charge Validation. Used by lenders. Validate your charges by confirming they are registered and what priority they have on the Land Register to get a clear audit of your lender portfolio

Charge and Discharge Confirmation. Used by lenders. Ensure your mortgage records are accurate, reduce your risk of an unregistered security and get an early indication of possible fraudulent discharges each month

Data Synchronisation. Used by lenders. Synchronise your registered charge details directly with our database to identify incomplete or inaccurate records and enable electronic discharges. New priority checker option available

Customer retention analysis. Used by lenders. Analyse trends in mortgage movement and carry out more informed and targeted customer campaigns.

Flood Risk Indicator. Used by solicitors, conveyancers, and members of the public. Get instant, concise, flood risk reports for specific properties using our online Find a property service.

Property Portfolio Consolidator. Used by solicitors, conveyancers, social landlords, local authorities, developers and auditors. Get a complete overview of all your registered property in England and Wales to help you manage your stock. This service gives you everything you need to consolidate, strengthen and update the information you hold on your properties and identify vulnerable titles you can secure

Register Extract Service. Used by solicitors and conveyancers Automatically populate your casework management system with property register details direct from the most trusted provider

Spotlight. Used by local authorities, consultants, estate agents, social landlords, infrastructure companies and lenders. Monitor any potential ownership and/or charge activity on specific registered properties.

Searchlight. Used by solicitors and conveyancers, local authorities, consultants, social landlords, infrastructure companies and lenders. Receive regular updates to your Electronic Extent Data (polygons) or your Property Portfolio Consolidator (PPC) information to ensure it stays as accurate as the day you purchased it.

17. What other uses are being made, if any, of information held on the register?

See reply to question 16