Guidance

Other HM Land Registry plan-related services and guides (practice guide 40, supplement 6)

Updated 25 June 2015

Applies to England and Wales

Please note that HM Land Registry’s practice guides are aimed primarily at solicitors and other conveyancers. They often deal with complex matters and use legal terms.

1. Searches of the index map

Not all the land in England and Wales is currently registered. When land is registered it is given a unique reference number - the title number.

HM Land Registry keeps a computerised map based on the Ordnance Survey map referred to as the index map. This computerised map provides an index of the land in every registered title and pending application for first registration: rule 10(a) of the Land Registration Rules 2003.

We do not hold any title information on properties that are not registered.

Any person may apply using form SIM for an official search of the index map: rule 145 of the Land Registration Rules 2003. The certificate of result will show whether or not the land searched is registered, the title numbers that affect and the type of registration that has been disclosed.

You should be aware that the official search of the index map service is quite separate from the official copy service through which you can obtain copy title plans and registers relating to land known to be registered.

If you do not require indemnity provisions in respect of an index map search you could consider using MapSearch. This service is available free of charge for Business e-services customers who have portal access and provides immediate search results.

2. Illustrative plans

SIM results are generally supplied in textual format without a plan. Our ‘Illustrative Plans’ service provides a colour-coded plan showing how titles revealed in a SIM result relate to each other.

Illustrative Plans help you visualise the relative locations of titles revealed through a SIM and multiple SIM results can be amalgamated on one Illustrative Plan. An Illustrative Plan can help you visualise any unregistered land within your original search area.

Illustrative Plans are prepared using the latest Ordnance Survey detail at the most appropriate scale and are available on five paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1 and A0.

3. Electronic Extent Data (Polygons)

HM Land Registry can help you to manage your assets and liabilities and to inform your planning or policy decisions by supplying customers with Electronic Extent Data in the form of Polygons.

You can request polygon data for:

• an electronically-defined geographical area electronically defined by you
• a verbally-defined geographic area; specific title numbers
• properties owned by a specific proprietor

We then send you the polygons you have requested in an open standard file format.

When you view the Polygons within your Geographic Information System software, you see the title number of each Polygon embedded for easy identification.

Polygons allow you to have a spatial understanding of the registered assets within your portfolio and identify ownership patterns within geographical areas of interest.

4. HM Land Registry practice guides

View HM Land Registry practice guides on GOV.UK.

Practice guide 10 : index map: official search explains how you can find out whether a property is registered or not and, if so, its title number.

Practice guide 11: inspection and applications for official copies explains how to obtain a copy of a title plan.

Practice guide 41: developing estates - registration services

Guide contains the following six supplements:

• Supplement 1: estate boundary approval
• Supplement 2: estate plan approval
• Supplement 3: approval of draft transfers and leases
• Supplement 4: plot sales - transfers and leases
• Supplement 5: detailed plan requirements and specification - guidance for surveyors
• Supplement 6: voluntary application to note overriding interests.

Practice guide 49: return and rejection of applications for registration

Includes notes on the rejection of plans.

Practice guide 60: commonhold – see commonhold community statement plan

Gives details of the requirements and specifications for commonhold community statement plans.

5. Things to remember

We only provide factual information and impartial advice about our procedures. Read more about the advice we give.