FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT THE REGISTRY OF DEEDS
On this page you will find the answers to the following questions
Top
How can I find out who is the current owner of a piece of land/house?
Contact HM Land Registry in the first instance. Registration of title at the Land Registry has been compulsory for most areas of West Yorkshire since 1974. The Land Register is now available online at:
http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/
If the land is still unregistered at the Land Registry, you may be referred back to West Yorkshire Archive Service to use the former West Riding Registry of Deeds. The Registry is housed at our Wakefield office. It is organised along different lines to the modern HM Land Registry system and closed as a working Registry in 1970. So although a search of the old Registry may be helpful in your research, it cannot tell you for certain who is the current owner of a particular property.
Further information about using the West Riding Registry of Deeds…
Top
Can the Registry of Deeds help resolve a boundary dispute with my neighbour?
Possibly, but you are advised to obtain relevant documentation from HM Land Registry first of all and to consult your solicitor if the matter is serious. The Land Registry have produced a useful leaflet on dealing with boundary disputes which is available at:
http://www.landreg.gov.uk/publications/public_guides/public_guide_006.pdf
If you require further historical documentation, you may need to use the former West Riding Registry of Deeds. However, you should note that our staff are not able to give legal advice.
Top
How much does an office/certified copy cost?
Please refer to our list of current Registry of Deeds Charges.
Top
Are you on the Document Exchange (DX)?
Yes. DX 731273 WAKEFIELD.
Top
How long does it take to send a Registry copy memorial?
The search for a deed will be made within two working days from the receipt of order and payment. Search requests by fax or email can only be completed on receipt of an appropriate fee. Copies of deeds located will be despatched within a maximum of four working days from receipt of the original order with payment. In practice, this will usually be less than four working days. Deeds will be despatched via the DX system if appropriate.
Top
My request is urgent. Are you able to process an emergency request?
Emergency requests for individual searches and copy deeds can on occasion be accommodated. Despatch of copy deeds if located can normally be made within the working day of receipt. Legal firms which use the emergency service frequently may be charged an additional fee.
Top
Can you carry out a Registry search for me?
Yes. Please refer to our list of current Registry of Deeds Charges for the cost per deed required. However, we do not ordinarily undertake ‘open-ended’ Registry searches to reconstruct the entire chain of title to a particular property. Please contact us for further advice if these circumstances apply to you.
Top
How do I know if the title deed I require was registered at Wakefield?
It was never compulsory to register at the West Riding Registry of Deeds, but increasingly it became customary to do so. If you can answer ‘yes’ to the following questions, therefore, there is a fair chance that the deed you require will have been registered at Wakefield:
- Is the deed dated between September 1704 and September 1970?
- Does the deed relate to land within the county of the West Riding of Yorkshire?
- Was the tenure in freehold or leasehold of more than 21 years?
Original deeds were stamped ‘Registered at Wakefield’ followed by a volume reference, once the registration had taken place, usually within about six months of the date of the original deed.
Top
What do I need to know before I start to search in the Registry of Deeds?
Searching in the Registry of Deeds can be a very time-consuming business, so it is best to come well prepared. Please read the instructions on How to Use the Registry of Deeds before you arrive.
Top
How is the Registry of Deeds organised?
The Registry memorials are kept in large bound volumes. Three methods of referencing these volumes were used one after another:
- The first volumes use the letters of the alphabet A-Z (excluding J and V to prevent confusion with I and U) in various single (A, B, C etc.) and double (AA, AB etc.) letter combinations.
- The next set of volumes are referred to by a unique number, beginning with 601.
- From the year 1885 onwards, a new sequence of sub-numbered volumes was begun each year (1885 volume 1, 1885 volume 2, 1885 volume 3, and so on, then 1886 volume 1, 1886 volume 2, and so forth).
There are various indexes to these Registry volumes, but the only index to cover the entire period of the Registry from 1704 to 1970 is the index of names. For further information see the page About the Registry of Deeds.
Top
What is a Registry memorial?
A registered deed was not a simple copy of the original, but a summary of its most important details, known as a ‘memorial’. A memorial contained:
- The date of the deed.
- The names, professions or occupations and place of residence of the parties.
- A short description of the property concerned.
Top
What area is covered by the West Riding of Yorkshire?
The West Riding was the largest county in England, and covered a much larger area than present day West Yorkshire. It ranged from Sedbergh in the north, to Sheffield in the south, Slaidburn and parts of Rochdale in the west, to places like Snaith in the east. A map of the ancient parishes of the West Riding is available at:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/Maps/WRYParishes.gif
To check whether a particular place was in the West Riding, use the alphabetical index available at:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/Where/
Places followed by a (W) in the alphabetical index were in the West Riding.
It should be noted that none of the Yorkshire Registries of Deeds covered the area of the City of York.
Top
Do the Registry records include a plan of the property?
Before 1885 plans were rarely sent in with memorials and they were not usually copied into the Registry volumes. Memorials therefore frequently refer to plans which can only be obtained by locating the original deed. Where plans were lodged with the original memorial, this is indicated in the Registry volume with three stars *** after the entry.
After 1885, any plans submitted to the Registry are bound into the Registry volumes after the text of the deed.
Top
What do the terms ‘freehold’, ‘leasehold’ and ‘copyhold’ mean?
Property can be 'conveyed' or transferred from one person to another in different ways. A person's legal right to a property is known as their 'title'. The legal records which document the transfer of property from one person to another are called 'title deeds'.
Copyhold or customary hold describes a system where the tenant's title to his property was an extract (or 'copy') of the manor court roll. The alternative name arose because the property was held under agreed terms 'according to the custom of the manor'. Copyhold property was not accepted for registration at the West Riding Registry of Deeds until it became 'enfranchised' into freehold property following the Law of Property Act, 1922. Copyhold tenure was finally abolished in 1925.
Freehold land can be bought and sold outright. From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, a freehold sale was usually effected by one of two procedures: 'bargain and sale' or 'lease and release'. It was never compulsory to register freehold title deeds at the West Riding Registry of Deeds, but increasingly it became customary to do so.
Leasehold occurs when a landowner 'lets' a property for a limited period of time, subject to certain terms and conditions contained in the lease. Only leases of 21 years or longer were registered at the West Riding Registry of Deeds. Be careful not to get muddled between a normal lease and the 'lease and release' procedure for freehold conveyance.
Top
Do you keep a Register of Land Charges?
No. The records of the former West Riding Registry of Deeds Land Charges Department were transferred on closure of the Registry to:
| |
Land Charges & Agricultural Credits Department
Plumer House
Tailyour Road
Cornhill
Plymouth
PL6 5HY
DX 8249 PLYMOUTH 3
Tel: +44 (0)1752 636666
Fax: +44 (0)1752 636699
|
Top
Does the Registry of Deeds include anything other than property title deeds?
Yes. The Acts of Parliament which governed the Registry also allowed for the registration of:
- Wills affecting land within the West Riding
- Bargains and Sales
- Judgments, statutes and recognizances affecting land within the West Riding
- Enclosure Awards and Maps
Top
How can I trace the history of my house?
The Archive Service holds a vast array of documentary material which can be used to trace the history of particular buildings. This can be a daunting prospect, especially if you have never visited an Archive Service office before. It is therefore well worth doing some basic reading about the most useful types of record you begin researching a particular building. Two helpful websites are:
http://www.house-detectives.co.uk/index.htm and
http://www.buildinghistory.org/
An added bonus for researching a house in Yorkshire is the relative ease of tracing the history of ownership of particular properties through the Riding Deeds Registries. If you live within the area of the former county of the West Riding of Yorkshire, you will almost certainly want to make an appointment to use the West Riding Registry of Deeds.
For all other types of archival evidence, you will need to make an appointment to visit your local Archive Service office in Bradford, Calderdale (Halifax), Kirklees (Huddersfield), Leeds or Wakefield. If you have not used our Service before, have a look at our Never been here before? pages designed to help first time visitors. Please contact us if you require help, or search our catalogue to find out more about what is available.
Top
Back
|