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How to Find Who Owns a Property in the UK

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Quick answer

To find out who legally owns a property in England or Wales, buy the title register from HM Land Registry for £7 (or the title plan for a further £7). The register names the registered owner(s) and the price last paid, and it is the official, authoritative source. Free alternatives — HM Land Registry's Price Paid Data, sold-price portals and the electoral roll — can hint at occupiers but do not officially confirm the legal owner. A small fraction of land remains unregistered, in which case ownership has to be traced through historic deeds.

The 2026 ranking

#ServicePriceEntry tierCoverageBest forLink
1HM Land Registry title register£7 (title register) + £7 (title plan)No (the fee is statutory)All registered land in England & Wales (~88%+)Officially confirming the legal ownerVisit
2HM Land Registry Price Paid Data / sold pricesFreeYes — fully freeSold transactions in England & Wales since 1995Seeing what an address last sold for (not who owns it now)Visit
3Companies House (corporate owners)FreeYesUK companies and their officers / persons with significant controlWhen the registered owner is a companyVisit
4Electoral roll / occupier recordsFree (open) or paid (full)PartlyRegistered electors at an addressIdentifying likely occupiers (not legal owners)Visit

How we ranked these

We ranked the routes to identify a property's owner on authoritativeness (does it legally confirm the registered proprietor), cost, coverage (England & Wales registered land) and speed. Costs and the document set are taken directly from HM Land Registry's published fee and service pages. This is general information, not legal advice.

Detailed reviews

#1

HM Land Registry title register

£7 (title register) + £7 (title plan)

The title register is the official record of who owns a property. Bought directly from HM Land Registry for £7, it names the registered proprietor(s), the tenure (freehold or leasehold), the price last paid (for transfers since 2000), and any mortgages, rights of way or restrictions registered against the title. The title plan (a further £7) shows the boundary extent. This is the definitive route — anything else is a proxy.

Pros

  • Official, legally authoritative record of the owner
  • Only £7 for the register, £7 for the plan
  • Shows tenure, last price paid, charges and restrictions
  • Available online, usually delivered within minutes to a few days

Cons

  • Does not cover the small proportion of land that is still unregistered
  • Names the legal owner, which may differ from the day-to-day occupier
#2

HM Land Registry Price Paid Data / sold prices

Free

HM Land Registry's open Price Paid Data — and the sold-price tools built on it — tell you what a property last sold for and when, free of charge. It is excellent context, but it does not name the owner; it confirms a transaction, not current legal ownership. Use it alongside the title register rather than instead of it.

Pros

  • Completely free and open data
  • Good for sale history and trend context
  • No account or fee required

Cons

  • Does not name the registered owner
  • Will not reflect very recent or off-market changes of ownership
#3

Companies House (corporate owners)

Free

If the title register shows a company as the registered proprietor, Companies House lets you look up that company's directors, registered office and persons with significant control — free. For overseas-owned property, the Register of Overseas Entities (also at Companies House) records the beneficial owners. This is how you go from a corporate name on the title to the people behind it.

Pros

  • Free access to company ownership and control data
  • Includes the Register of Overseas Entities for foreign owners
  • Useful for due diligence on corporate landlords

Cons

  • Only helps when the owner is a company, not an individual
  • Requires the title register first to know the company name
#4

Electoral roll / occupier records

Free (open) or paid (full)

The open electoral register and similar people-finder sources can suggest who lives at an address, but occupiers and legal owners are not the same thing — a property may be tenanted or owned through a company or trust. Treat this as a hint, never as confirmation of ownership.

Pros

  • Free open-register access
  • Can corroborate who is resident

Cons

  • Occupier ≠ legal owner; tenants and absentee owners break the link
  • Not authoritative for ownership in any legal sense

Verdict

The reliable way to find who owns a property in England or Wales is to buy the £7 title register from HM Land Registry — it is the only source that legally names the registered owner, and it also reveals tenure, the last price paid, mortgages and restrictions. Free sold-price data gives you valuable context but not the owner's name; Companies House completes the picture when the owner is a company. Before you go that far, run an instant HouseCheckup Snapshot on the address: it pulls together the sold-price history alongside flood, ground-stability, EPC and planning data, so you see what you are dealing with in one place — then the £7 register names the owner.

Try the HouseCheckup Snapshot

Frequently asked questions

Buy the title register for the property from HM Land Registry for £7. It officially names the registered owner(s), the tenure, the price last paid and any charges or restrictions. You can order it online using the property's address. The title plan, which shows the boundary, costs a further £7.
The official title register from HM Land Registry costs £7, and the title plan costs another £7. Free alternatives — HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, sold-price tools, Companies House and the open electoral register — can provide context, but only the £7 title register officially confirms the legal owner.
You can find context for free — what the property last sold for (HM Land Registry Price Paid Data and sold-price tools), and, if a company owns it, the company's directors via Companies House. But there is no free source that officially names the legal owner of registered land; that requires the £7 title register from HM Land Registry.
The title register names the registered proprietor(s), states the tenure (freehold or leasehold), shows the price last paid for transfers since 2000, and lists any mortgages, easements (such as rights of way) and restrictions registered against the title. It is the official record of ownership for registered land in England and Wales.
About 12% of land in England and Wales is still unregistered. If a property has no registered title, HM Land Registry has no owner to name, and ownership has to be established from the historic title deeds — typically held by the owner, their solicitor or a lender. Most property that has changed hands in recent decades is now registered.
First get the title register to find the company's name, then look the company up on Companies House (free) to see its directors and persons with significant control. If the owner is an overseas entity, the Register of Overseas Entities, also held by Companies House, records the beneficial owners.

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