HM Land Registry Online: How to Search Titles, Get Documents and What Each One Costs

What HM Land Registry Holds

HM Land Registry (HMLR) maintains the definitive register of land ownership in England and Wales. Over 87% of all freehold and leasehold land is now registered. The register records who owns each title, what they paid (for recent transactions), any mortgages or charges secured against the property, covenants, easements, and restrictions on use.

Most of this information is publicly accessible for a small fee. This guide explains exactly how to access it, what you will receive, and what each document costs.

The HMLR Online Search Service

The primary route to HMLR documents is the Search for land and property information service at gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry. This is HMLR's official public portal and is available 24 hours a day.

There is a separate professional portal — the HMLR portal — used by solicitors, licensed conveyancers, and other registered users for higher volumes of searches. The public service described here is suitable for individual property searches.

Step 1: Find the Title Number

Every registered title has a unique title number (e.g. LN12345678). If you know the address, you can search by address to find the title number. If the address search does not return a result, the property may be unregistered (this is still the case for a small number of older properties that have not changed hands since the Land Registration Act 2002 made registration compulsory on sale).

Step 2: View the Summary (Free)

Once you locate a title, HMLR provides a summary view at no cost. This shows:

• The registered title number
• The tenure (freehold or leasehold)
• The registered proprietor's name
• Whether there are any charges registered against the title

This free summary is useful for a quick check but does not include the full detail of covenants, easements, or lease terms.

Step 3: Purchase the Full Title Register (£3)

The title register is the primary document. It is divided into three parts:

**Property Register (Part A)**: Describes the property by reference to the title plan, states the estate (freehold or leasehold), and sets out the rights the property benefits from — such as rights of way over neighbouring land.

**Proprietorship Register (Part B)**: Names the registered owner and states the price paid (for transactions since April 2000 for residential property). Also records any restrictions on the owner's power to deal with the title.

**Charges Register (Part C)**: Lists mortgages and other financial charges secured against the property, along with any covenants or burdens affecting the title.

The full title register costs £3 and is delivered as a downloadable PDF. This is genuinely good value for the information it contains.

Step 4: Purchase the Title Plan (£3)

The title plan is the OS map extract that shows the extent of the registered title, usually outlined in red. It shows the general boundary of the property but is not a precise boundary survey — the exact legal boundary between neighbouring properties is often not determined by the title plan.

A separate title plan costs £3. You can purchase the register and plan together for £6.

Step 5: Order Official Copies if Needed

For legal purposes — conveyancing, mortgage applications, probate — you may need an official copy (sometimes called an official search) rather than an information search. Official copies are certified by HMLR and carry more legal weight. They cost the same (£3 per document) but are marked as official copies. Your solicitor will normally order these as part of conveyancing.

What HMLR Documents Don't Tell You

Title documents record what is legally registered. They do not cover:

• Planning history or planning conditions
• Building regulations certificates
• EPC ratings
• Flood risk
• Environmental contamination
• Lease terms not appended to the title (though leases are sometimes noted)

Unregistered Land

If a property is unregistered, there will be no result at HMLR. Ownership evidence for unregistered land is held in title deeds, which remain with the owner or their solicitor. The Land Charges Register (a separate HMLR service) records some interests affecting unregistered land, but it is less comprehensive than the register for registered titles.

Using Property Passport UK Alongside HMLR

Property Passport UK displays tenure information sourced from HMLR for indexed properties — useful for a quick check before committing to paying for the full register. For the full legal detail of covenants, charges, and restrictions, the £3 official title register from HMLR remains the definitive source and is always worth purchasing before proceeding with a transaction.