Property auction website are an excellent source of historic title deeds for buildings local to the area you are interested in.
In most instances, these are free to download but registration is needed first.
Conveyances, leases, etc. can reveal
construction dates,
builders/developers and historical land lords (land owners) etc. In Scotland, feudal ownership
may be shown.
Documents may also extend to title, plans, wills and other legal papers like
court orders and litigation narrative.
In particular with leases or abstracts of title, these may show ownership
of neighboring land or other parcels in the area.
Hint. Streets, blocks or rows of houses may have the same builder, developer or original owner.
Therefore, deeds can be
common. Same applies to housing estates so neighboring house auctions can be useful. They can also show sale or gifts
of legacies (donations) to local authorities (councils) to build parks, amenities, schools etc (commonplace with aristocracy).
As well as revealing family history, they can also give clues to street names
for example titled on or named by the original
land owner.
Therefore, deeds can be an untapped source of research information that is mainly
kept private but can be
considered quite factually accurate.
Steps to locate current auction properties.
To find auction properties, use Rightmove.co.uk.
On the search results page, use filters and check box
auction property
under 'Must haves' (see below).
You can setup an alert and get emails when your search criteria matches in the future. Registration is required
Tip. A lot of independent, local and national estate agents use
EIG group so registration on passport.eigroup.co.uk is a must.
Tip. Freehold properties registered at the land registry rarely have any historical information.
Tip. New to the market properties for auction via a Rightmove alert usually won't have a legal pack available so don't
just jump in to view. Having said that, properties can get pulled out of auctions so be quick
to download any legal packs
before these documents are removed.
Auctioneer Links:
Some typical auctioneers using own systems:
www.futurepropertyauctions.co.uk.
www.pattinson.co.uk/.
www.iamsold.co.uk/.
Using EIG:
www.mchughandco.com/.
www.auctionhouse.co.uk/.
probate.auction/.
Top Tip.
Be sparse with the information given on website registration. You will
get alerts latter on any legal packs you
try to download or phone calls looking for bidders so be prepared say your no longer interested in looking for auction property.
Land registry property search (England and Wales)
search-property-information.service.gov.uk/(registration needed).
Gives limited free info but can show leasehold and freehold status.
Using the property postcode, you can get limited information about
the house. Sometimes you can perhaps infer
historical ownership as blocks of leaseholds are shown together (Schedule of notices of leases).
These are free
to access but you can pay for documents and plans, some may include deeds.
Postcode lookup - Royal mail website to lookup UK postcodes.
Land registry property alerts.
Similar to property searches,
Property alerts gives you details of register changes by email.
If you set an alert near a recent change (few weeks ago in the past) such as purchase with mortgage, ownership change
etc, you'll get a summary of the what is changing but is not much use for research.
Tip. - Newly listed properties on Rightmove won't have a legal pack straight away, especially auctioneers using EIG.
Iamsold tends to have them when listed for sale (but not when labeled pre-auction marketing).
Hint/top tip. - If a sale property is not registered at the Land registry
(Title is Unregistered), its more likely for the
legal pack to have a lot of documents to prove ownership such as
epitome of title, abstract of title with supporting
conveyances and deeds.
Hint/top tip. - Its common that legal documents don't usually appear till a day or so before the auction starts.
Tip. Legal packs for flats in mills and large buildings can have an overwelming amount of land registry information,
including legal restrictions relating to industrial activity.
Hint. - Despite what google AI says, most auction websites don't have archive details free.
EIG auction insight
costs £700 per annum but allegedly offers a 2 day free trial.
Other tips:
• Local government planning applications sometime have conveyances lodged so keep an
eye on your target properties
planning applications on the council website.
• Don't restrict yourself to domestic dwellings - including commercial and retail
property in rightmove, may revival
previous use or land ownership.
• Don't assume modern / new properties have no deed information - they may be
built on land with extensive
historic narrative.
• How to locate old properties - use the postcode search on
propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/.
Any addresses showing
"Unavailable" indicate
unregistered at the Land Registry and so have not had change of owner ship in over 30+
years (pre-compulsory registration).
Street history tips:
• When researching street name origins, find auctions for old house in the area such as 19th centaury terraces
or Victorian villas. Having said that new builds may be brown field and not farm land – get help from
NLS geofenced maps with modern overlays.
• Don’t restrict to the subject street – blocks of land around the area are commonly owned historically by one
individual or entity.
• Mills, factories and building land may hold hidden or obscure information.
Additional Links:
• AI search enginees or other AI website may be useful
for giving a quick summary of a deed that you upload to it.
• help with terms found on historical deeds.
• Try before you buy dip your toes in / have a look at what deeds are like with access to legal packs without registering.
Back to Local history.
Last updated 06-Sep-2026
