The Title Register and Title Plan for each property are kept up to date, i.e. every time there is a change in ownership, redemption of a mortgage or the registeriing of a new mortgage, the redundant ownership details and mortgages are removed and replaced with the updated details. The same applies to Title Plans, each time there is a revision by Ordnance Survey.
In 1993 the Land Registry began digitising their records, i.e. all paper records such as old copies of the Title Register where kept as scanned image files rather than as paper files. Old copies of the Title Register are known as Prior Editions of the Title Register and old copies of the Title Plan are known as Prior Editions of the Title Plan.
We can obtain Prior Editions for you. They will show all the registered property and ownership details as at a particular date. When ordering this search you can either select an option to purchase a copy of the Prior Edition immediately before the current edition, or alternatively you can provide a specific date from which to search. This date must lay between 1993 and the date the current ownership began.
If the property was not registered before the current registration there will be no Prior Edition. The date the property was first registered is the first date in brackets in the A section of the Title Register. The date the current owner was registered is the first date in brackets in the B section of the Title Register. If each date is the same that means the current owner is the first person to be registered and that no Prior Editions are available.
Older copies of the Title Register can be obtained by using this search. However the earliest date we can search back to is May 1993 (which is when digital record keeping at the Land Registry first began). We cannot provide Title Registers dated before 1993.
The date that can be applied for depends greatly upon when the property first became registered and the date of the current ownership. For example if a property was first registered on 19 May 1994 and the current ownership began on 20 August 2007 we can obtain an Historical edition of Title Register for any date between 19 May 1994 and 20 August 2007.
You will need to specify a precise date to search or select one of our options which will allow the searcher to find an appropriate date if you are unsure. A separate fee is payable for each date searched and you will only receive one Title Register per search.
Please note this search will not provide details of ownership for all previous owners but only the owners at the date specified.
Because History Searches require old copies of documents they cannot be supplied digitally and may take 3 to 4 working days to provide.
As every registered document is unique the amount of detail provided will vary with each property.
Sometimes government departments and local authorities require evidence that you no longer own a property. The best way to do this is to provide them with a copy of the current Title Register (which shows who the current owner is) and a Prior copy of the Title Register dating back to before the sale (which shows that you used to be the owner).