Leasehold
Where might HM Land Registry show the length of a lease?
On the registered title. Government guidance explains that you can search the register and obtain an official copy. The register can show the lease, the parties and the term. It does not show cracks, damp or the condition of the roof. The survey does that. The register does the tenure.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Your solicitor normally gets the official copy. You can also search yourself. There is a fee for official copies. The current fee is whatever Land Registry charges on the day. We are not printing a fee that may have changed. The title may give a term such as “125 years from a date”. The years remaining are a calculation from that date. Ask the solicitor to do it, and to check whether a deed of variation has changed it.
A plan on the title shows the demise, not whether the balcony is safe. Use the survey for the balcony and the title for whether the balcony is even included. Mismatches happen. Tell the solicitor if the survey describes a garden or a garage the particulars promised. That is a legal check, not a second visit from the surveyor.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which outside parts did you think were with this flat?
- Did you see a store or a parking space you could not identify as demised?
- What condition points are irrelevant to the title and still my problem?
What are the typical next steps?
- Get the official copy and the lease.
- Ask the solicitor for the years remaining and for what the title says you own.
- Do not use the estate agent’s floorplan as the demise.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Does the register show service-charge arrears?
Not in the way a set of accounts does. Ask the solicitor what the register shows and what the landlord’s pack shows. They are different.
If the flat is unregistered, is there no lease?
There can still be a lease. Unregistered does not mean freehold. The solicitor explains how title is proved. The survey remains irrelevant to that proof and essential to the building.