The HM Land Registry are responsible for registering land and property across England and Wales. To find out the price paid for a specific property, head to their website at: https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd. It usually takes around 3 months from the date of sale for the information to be made freely available. For a small fee, you can also find out who owns the property and purchase a copy of the title plan.
There are separate land registry organisations in Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
But why might you need this information, other than being a nosey neighbour? Well, there are more reasons than you might think!
For instance, if you are planning to put your own home on the market and you are unsure about where to pitch your asking price, a quick look at the price paid for any similar properties on your street or in the local area can be enormously helpful before you seek a more specific valuation from an estate agent. If you haven’t already found a particular property that you will be moving on to, it is also helpful to have an idea of property prices in your chosen area to make sure you can actually afford what you are looking for before you sell your own property. Especially if you are looking to upsize or move to a more expensive location. Specific house price trends in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can all be found online.
If you are considering buying a specific property and you want to make an informed decision about the price you wish to offer, it can be useful to see what the current owners (plus any previous owners) paid for the property when they originally bought it. If there is a big disparity between the price that the current owners paid for the property versus the price they are now asking and a significant time has not elapsed and/or there has not been a specific property price boom which could account for the price hike, a quick search on your local planning authority website with the relevant address will show you any significant improvements which have been made to the property which warrant the new price. Generally, the property will have been marketed with details of any recent refurbishments, but this might not always be the case. Equally, if you are aware that the property has been significantly altered, it is always helpful to ensure that these alterations were made with the relevant planning consents and building regulations approval since work undertaken without the relevant consents may need to be rectified or removed.
If you are looking to purchase a fixer-upper, knowing the sold prices of similar houses locally in good condition will give you an idea of whether the cost of the property as it is, plus the cost of any work you plan to do, will exceed any future value you could add. However luxurious and spacious a property is, there will always be a ceiling price based on the area you live in. Even if you are doing the work to a property purely for your own use and enjoyment rather than with a view to selling the property for a profit, you would not want to spend significantly more than the property would ever be worth.
Why does the Land Registry keep a register of property prices?
Since 1990, property registration has been compulsory in England and Wales. When a property is sold, it is a legal requirement to register the details of the new owners with the Land Registry so that title deeds for the property can be updated. The Land Registry will also make a note of the purchase price of the property at this time. Updating the Land Registry is normally the role of the buyer’s solicitors as part of the conveyancing process.
Property portals Rightmove and Zoopla also publish a range of data on house price trends which includes information on specific properties and the prices paid for them. The information on individual property prices is taken straight from Land Registry data. Handily, for homes sold in the past 10-15 years where there would have been an online advertisement for the property, a link will often be provided to this original advert including any photographs of the property as it was then, so you can clearly see any structural or cosmetic work undertaken by the current owners.
If the property was sold less than 3 months ago, there is a particular backlog for the Land Registry, or there have been any issues with the sale which means the conveyancer is yet to make a submission, the updated information for the property may not have been published online by the Land Registry yet.
Alternatively (whilst uncommon), it may be that the property is actually unregistered with the Land Registry. This is generally the case when a property has not been either sold or re-mortgaged since 1990. It is estimated that around 10% of freehold properties in England and Wales are currently unregistered.
Should you need to find details of a historic house sale where Land Registry details are not available, this can be a complex process and can often require the assistance of a solicitor or conveyancer. For more information on tracking down details of sale, property ownership and title deeds, check out our article Can you sell a house without the deeds?
