Technical specification
UK companies that own property in England and Wales
Overview
UK companies that own property in England and Wales is published monthly. It shows freehold or leasehold registered titles that are legally owned by a company or a corporate body.
Specification scope
Inclusions and exclusions
The data may contain registrations by the following owner types:
- corporations aggregate (a separate legal entity formed by more than one individual person. The corporate aggregate has an existence which is separate from the persons comprising it. The term is used to distinguish them from corporations sole which are legal entities consisting of a single person at any one time)
- county councils
- other local authorities
- housing associations
- industrial and provident societies
- registered societies
- limited companies
- public limited companies
- unlimited companies
- limited liability partnerships
- community interest companies
- Societas Europaea (where registered at Companies House)
- UK Companies with an overseas correspondence address
The dataset excludes titles where the registered owners are:
- private individuals
- overseas companies
- charities including Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO)
If an excluded owner type is the sole owner, all details will be removed from the dataset.
If a registered title is owned by both included and excluded owner types, the excluded owner details will be removed from the name, proprietorship and correspondence address columns. An indicator will be displayed to highlight there are other proprietors.
Email addresses and British Forces Post Office addresses have been removed from the correspondence address records. These are considered private and personal.
Relationship to other HM Land Registry data products
The dataset is aligned with Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales. It contains approximately 100,000 records, which describes titles registered to an overseas company or corporate body.
The title number allows relational links to be made with other HM Land Registry datasets that also contain the title number.
Data content and structure
Table 1 - UK companies that own property in England and Wales: class diagram
| UK companies that own property in England and Wales |
|---|
| Title number |
| Tenure |
| Property Address |
| District |
| County |
| Region |
| Postcode |
| Multiple address Indicator |
| Price Paid |
| Proprietor name (1) |
| Company Registration No. (1) |
| Proprietorship Category (1) |
| Proprietor (1) address (1) |
| Proprietor (1) address (2) |
| Proprietor (1) address (3) |
| Proprietor name (2) |
| Company Registration No. (2) |
| Proprietorship Category (2) |
| Proprietor (2) address (1) |
| Proprietor (2) address (2) |
| Proprietor (2) address (3) |
| Proprietor name (3) |
| Company Registration No. (3) |
| Proprietorship Category (3) |
| Proprietor (3) address (1) |
| Proprietor (3) address (2) |
| Proprietor (3) address (3) |
| Proprietor name (4) |
| Company Registration No. (4) |
| Proprietorship Category (4) |
| Proprietor (4) address (1) |
| Proprietor (4) address (2) |
| Proprietor (4) address (3) |
| Date Proprietor added |
| Additional Proprietor Indicator |
| Change indicator (COU only) |
| Change Date (COU only) |
Table 2 - UK companies that own property in England and Wales: table structure
| Field name | Data type | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title number | Character | Yes | Unique number which identifies a registered title to land or a caution against first registration. |
| Tenure | Character | Yes | Freehold or leasehold. |
| Property Address | Character | Yes | The unformatted address in the register. |
| District | Character | Yes | Name of an administrative district created since local government reorganisation 1974. Administrative district also covers the London boroughs, unitary authorities and (for HMLR's purposes) the Isles Of Scilly Parishes. |
| County | Character | Yes | Name of current county in England and Wales. |
| Region | Character | Yes | Name of a geographic region which comprises one or more current counties, former counties or unitary authorities or any combination of these. On HQ instructions, the names and extents of the regions are the economic planning regions used by various bodies. N.B. region names allocated by the Office for National Statistics differ in some instances from names in this field. |
| Postcode | Character | No | A combination of up to 7 letters and numbers (plus one embedded blank), which defines geographic units. It is part of a coding system created and used by the post office across the UK. |
| Multiple address Indicator | Character | No | Indicates that property addresses on the register are contained in a property schedule. The register may contain additional property addresses. |
| Price Paid | Character | No | The sale price stated on the transfer deed which will be the last recorded sale price available in our published Price Paid Dataset. This may not relate to the sale to the current proprietor which may have been excluded (see our list of exclusions) |
| Proprietor name (1) | Character | Yes | Non-private Individual Name. Name of a company, corporate body, local authority or other organisation or establishment. |
| Company Registration No. (1) | Character | No | A unique identifier assigned to a company when it is registered at Companies' House. Although the name of the company may change, the Company Registration Number will stay the same. |
| Proprietorship Category (1) | Character | Yes | Text which describes the category in which a name falls. |
| Proprietor (1) address (1) | Character | Yes | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (1) address (2) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (1) address (3) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor name (2) | Character | No | Non-private individual name. Name of a company, corporate body, local authority or other organisation or establishment. |
| Company Registration No. (2) | Character | No | Number which is a unique identifier assigned to a company when it is registered at Companies' House. Although the name of the company may change, the Company Registration Number will stay the same. |
| Proprietorship Category (2) | Character | No | Text which describes the category in which a name falls. |
| Proprietor (2) address (1) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (2) address (2) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (2) address (3) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor name (3) | Character | No | Non-private individual Name. Name of a company, corporate body, local authority or other organisation or establishment. |
| Company Registration No. (3) | Character | No | Number which is a unique identifier assigned to a company when it is registered at Companies' House. Although the name of the company may change, the Company Registration Number will stay the same. |
| Proprietorship Category (3) | Character | No | Text which describes the category in which a name falls. |
| Proprietor (3) address (1) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (3) address (2) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (3) address (3) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor name (4) | Character | No | Non-private individual name. Name of a company, corporate body, local authority or other organisation or establishment. |
| Company Registration No. (4) | Character | No | Number which is a unique identifier assigned to a company when it is registered at Companies' House. Although the name of the company may change, the Company Registration Number will stay the same. |
| Proprietorship Category (4) | Character | No | Text which describes the category in which a name falls. |
| Proprietor (4) address (1) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (4) address (2) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Proprietor (4) address (3) | Character | No | Register address string. The address (including the postcode) either of a property or a registered proprietor, in the form in which it appears as the property description on the register. The text will include any commas but exclude any final punctuation marks (e.g. full stops) and any IOPN delimiters. |
| Date Proprietor added | Date | No | The date a proprietor was added to the register. |
| Additional Proprietor Indicator | Character | Yes |
Indicates if there are other proprietors in the register which are not one of the following proprietor categories
|
| Change indicator (COU only) | Character | No |
Indicates the change to the row A – Added, D – Deleted. |
| Change Date (COU only) | Date | No | The date of the extract. |
Table 3 - UK companies that own property in England and Wales: Tenure code list
| No | Tenure | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freehold | Freehold estates are held for an infinite duration. |
| 2 | Leasehold | Leasehold estates have a fixed or maximum duration. Under the Land Registration Act 2002, only leases granted for a term of more than seven years are compulsorily registrable and are included in this data. |
Table 4 - UK Companies that own property in England and Wales: Proprietorship code list list
| Name | Mandatory registration number issued by responsible authority | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Community Benefit Society | Yes | An incorporated body that conducts business for the benefit of the community, re-investing profits in the community. |
| Co-operative Society | Yes | Businesses that are run for the benefit of their members, distributing profits between their members. |
| Corporate Body | No | An organisation that has its own legal rights and responsibilities. |
| County Council | No | The elected governing body of an administrative County. |
| Housing Association Community Benefit Society | Yes | An incorporated body which is also a housing association that conducts business for the benefit of the community, re-investing profits in the community. |
| Housing Association Co-operative Society | Yes | A housing association that is run for the benefit of their members, distributing profits between their members. |
| Housing Association Registered Society | Yes | A housing association that is also a registered society. |
| Housing Association/Society (Company) | Yes | A housing association that is a company. |
| Housing Association/Society (Corporate Body) | Yes | A housing association that is a corporate body. |
| Industrial and Provident Society | Yes | All Industrial and Provident Societies are now Registered Societies. |
| Limited Company or Public Limited Company | Yes | A company where the liability for debts is limited either by guarantee or by reference to the number of shares issued. The majority of companies are limited. |
| Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) | Yes | A corporate body and has legal identity separate from that of its members. It can hold property in its own right and has unlimited powers to deal with estates. |
| Local Authority | No | An administrative body in local government. |
| Registered Society | Yes | A society that is registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. |
| Unlimited Company | Yes | An unlimited company is a company with unlimited liability for its debts. |
| Community Interest Company | Y | A company registered under Part 2 of the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004. They are social enterprises that trade with a social purpose and with the assets and profits being used for the benefit of the community. |
| Societas Europaea | Y | These are companies set up within the territory of the EU under Council Regulation (EC) 2157/2001 and the related UK legislation - European Public Limited-Liability Company Regulations 2004 - in the form of a European public limited-liability company. |
Data quality
During more than 150 years of land registration, improvements to working practice may have caused some inconsistencies in the data.
- Only completed register entries are included. No pending applications or historic owners are included.
- The information about owners may not always reflect the position on the Register, as we do not include information about private individuals, overseas companies and charities.
- The source data is from information supplied by citizens, corporate bodies and conveyancers on registration deeds and documents. There is often inconsistency in the way in which addresses and names are supplied to Land Registry.
- There may be spelling errors in the ownership names. This could be due to input error or the way in which they were presented.
- Detailed address information is provided wherever possible.
- The postcode is taken from the registered property description. If one hasn’t been registered then the postcode will be blank.
- The Date Proprietor Added is the date the proprietor was registered. When Land Registry registers a proprietor, the date of registration is usually entered in the register. This date is automatically entered but may be overwritten and left blank, for example, where two individual titles are amalgamated. Approx. 2% of titles in this dataset have a blank field. Where a date is shown this might not be the date that the proprietor was first registered. For example, it might be the date of the last registered property transfer where one owner remains the same.
- There are typographic errors in Company Registration Numbers.
- It is possible for a Company Registration Number to legitimately be associated with more than one company. For example, if a company changed its name and did not update the property record. Clerical or format errors may show a mismatch between company name and registration number. There was no obligation to record a Company Registration Number before 1 January 1997. However, approx. 2% of LTD or PLC titles registered after this date have no Company Registration Number due to errors made.
- There are some errors where an incorrect proprietorship has been selected during registration.
- If we find any overseas Companies, charities or private individuals have been included in this dataset, we’ll remove them.
Data capture information
The data is collected when property is transferred or leased to a non-private individual. During the application process the Company Registration Number is recorded. This has been the case since 1997.
HM Land Registry does not validate Company Registration Numbers. Other types of corporations may be allocated a number by their registration authority.
We take customer addresses at registration and check them against Ordnance Survey AddressBase data if possible. We’ll create a new address in our register if there’s no match.
Data maintenance
The data can change several times during the month. The published data will only show the latest change made.
Data product delivery
Access to the dataset
Two files will be published from the 2nd working day of the month. The data is published in both a monthly complete file and a file that only shows changes to the dataset since the previous month. This is known as the change only update file.
Once the full dataset has been downloaded, the title number allows users to maintain the data by adding the change only update to the full dataset each month. Alternatively, the user can download the full dataset again, which also contains all changes made to date.
Granting access
You will need to create an account on the Use land and property data service and sign in to access the data.
File structure
The dataset is provided as a CSV file. The data in each file will:
- use a comma to separate each field: ',' (ASCII 44)
- enclose all fields within double quotes “ “ (ASCII 34)
- send blank fields without a character between double quotes: ”“
- have a date format of DD-MM-YYYY. For example, 14 December 2013 will be shown as 14-12-2013
- will use UTF-8 encoding (the way characters are coded for websites)
- have line separation removed
- have the column heading as the first row
File name
The file names will be structured as follows:
- CCOD_<1><2><3>.csv
- <1>File Type. FULL denotes full monthly extract, COU denotes monthly change only update
- <2>Year of file creation (format YYYY)
- <3>Month of file creation (format MM)
Example file name structure for the 2 file types:
- CCOD_FULL_2018_10.csv
- CCOD_COU_2018_10.csv
Contact information
If you have any feedback or questions about this data, contact us:
Telephone
- Telephone: 0300 006 0478
- Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
- data.services@mail.landregistry.gov.uk
- We aim to respond within 2 working days