What is the Land Registry in the UK?

If you decide to purchase property in the UK, sooner or later you will learn about the need to register with the Land Registry. Although registration is usually carried out by a solicitor or conveyancer, it is worth being at least somewhat aware of how the entire process works and how the regulations affect your ownership status.

What is Land Registry?

The Land Registry, or more specifically HM Land Registry (HMLR), is a government agency operating in England and Wales. Its task is to maintain the official register of land and property ownership. The Land Registry also keeps records containing information about other rights to houses and flats. Therefore, if a mortgage is registered against the property, it will appear in the charges register of the title.

If you are buying a house in Scotland, your registry will be Registers of Scotland. Properties in Northern Ireland are registered with Land and Property Services.

Why is the Land Registry maintained?

Certain events, such as a sale, a gift or a first legal mortgage of an unregistered property, trigger compulsory first registration, and the application must be made within two months of the event (Land Registration Act 2002, section 6). Transfers and mortgages of a property that is already registered must be registered to take effect at law.

The Land Registry is maintained primarily to provide certainty and security in property transactions. As the register records who owns the property and many of the rights and charges that affect it, both owners and their creditors (e.g. banks) are provided with additional protection. Most registered titles have a title plan, which usually shows only the general boundaries of the property, not the exact line of the legal boundary.

At completion, the buyer usually gets the keys and takes the beneficial interest in the property, but legal title to a registered property only passes when HM Land Registry registers the transfer (Land Registration Act 2002, section 27). Your conveyancer applies for registration after completion.

What does an entry in the Land Registry contain?

A title register can be compared to a page in a book that lists a set of specific information. The most important of these include:

• Title number – unique serial number of the property;

• Property register – a description of the property, including whether it is freehold or leasehold and any rights it benefits from;

• Proprietorship register – the class of title, the names of the registered owners and any restrictions on their power to deal with the property;

• Charges register – mortgages (registered charges) and other financial charges, and other rights or interests that limit how the property can be used, such as rights of way for others to cross the property or restrictive covenants.

How much does it cost to register with the Land Registry?

Land Registry fees are generally based on the value of the transaction you are making. However, it should be noted that, unlike Stamp Duty Land Tax, the fee is not divided into parts – if you are buying a house for £600,000, you will pay the fee for that price bracket (in this case, £655 for a paper application, or £295 for an eligible transfer of the whole registered title if your conveyancer applies electronically through the HM Land Registry portal).

Scale 1 fees

These are fees for acquiring new property or new rights, and are therefore charged, for example, when purchasing a house or flat, granting a lease, or registering a property for the first time.

Source: GOV.UK

Scale 2 fees

Scale 2 fees cover, among other things, transfers that are not for money (such as gifts), new mortgages (charges) and other applications affecting a registered property.

Source: GOV.UK

Some applications submitted through the HM Land Registry portal attract lower fees than postal applications, particularly eligible transfers of whole registered titles. Other applications, including transfers of part and many lease registrations, do not receive that reduction. The correct fee depends on the type of application and how it is submitted. Check the latest HM Land Registry fee schedule and your conveyancer’s quote.

Getting copies of the register

It is worth noting that the Land Registry is a public register – everyone has the right to obtain the information contained therein. You can request a copy of the Title Register and the Title Plan. It costs £7 to download a title register or title plan online (£11 for an official copy by post). You can get copies of the registers when you search for property information on GOV.UK.

How long does it take to obtain an entry in the Land Registry?

According to HM Land Registry’s processing times (updated September 2026), over 80% of applications are processed within one day. However, when we look at the statistics on changes to existing titles, around one in three of these applications takes more than three months. HM Land Registry reports that approximately 37,000 applications per month fall into its ‘Complex changes and new entries’ category, which includes first registrations, applications to divide existing titles and new leases. Most of these are completed within 12 months, but some take 18 months or longer.

Once the application is completed, HM Land Registry issues an official copy of the updated title register and title plan, usually to the conveyancer who made the application.

Unregistered property

It is worth mentioning properties that are still unregistered. According to HM Land Registry’s Annual Report and Accounts 2025 to 2026, the register holds more than 27 million titles covering more than 90% of the land area of England and Wales, so some land and property is still unregistered.

Let’s be clear – it is still possible to buy an unregistered house in England and Wales, although it is less common.

Buying an unregistered property can involve extra legal work, time and cost, because ownership has to be shown from the title deeds rather than the register. The purchase, or a first legal mortgage over the property, triggers compulsory first registration (Land Registration Act 2002, section 4). Check the position with your conveyancer and lender before you commit.

Summary

Many applications are processed quickly, but some take months, so ask your conveyancer to keep you updated. Although your solicitor should take care of everything, you should definitely keep an eye on matters related to obtaining registration.

Are you planning to buy a house in the UK? Do you have questions about mortgages? Contact us – we can help.