If the only information you have about registered land is the name of the current owner or if you are trying to trace whether a person currently owns registered land, use the Owner Search on the Land Registry Services menu.
Use 'Full owner name' to look for one name
- If you are looking for one name only, use the 'Full owner name' field.
- The field is not case sensitive: "John Smith" will have the same results as "john smith" or "jOhN smiTH".
- The name you enter in the Full owner name field must match the one that appears in the database exactly. If you aren't sure if the exact spelling, use '%' as a wildcard.
Use 'Forename(s)' and 'Surname' fields to look for forename variations
- If you are not sure of the forename(s) of the owner (different spellings, abbreviations etc), enter a single Surname and then add as many forename variations as you need. The number of results that can be shown for a single search is limited, therefore adding too many forenames may lead to more results than you can view - you will be advised if your search has too many results and asked to refine your criteria.
- These fields are not case sensitive.
Searching in Counties
- You can only perform an Owner Name Search for one county at a time. You will have to carry out a separate search for each county you are interested in.
Restrict dates
- Although it is not essential, you can limit the search to ownerships which were registered within a particular period by specifying a Start Date and an End Date.
Results
- If the search finds registered owners matching the name you entered, you will see a list of up to thirty unique names. If you did not use ‘wild cards’ when entering the Owner name, only one name, exactly matching what you entered, will normally be displayed.
- The system allows a maximum of 30 matches for one owner name. If it finds more than 30 unique names that match the pattern you entered, you will not be charged for the search and no names will be displayed. Instead, you will be asked to refine your search. Try limiting the search by entering a start date and/or end date, or by limiting the use of wild cards in your definition of the Owner name.
- For each owner that appears in the list of names, there will be one or more folios. Select the name(s) that interest you (as many as you want). You will then be able to progress to a list of folios owned by the names you have selected.
- If the system does not find any matching records the information you have may not be accurate, or the person may not currently own any registered land. Use a Registry of Deeds search to find unregistered land.
No results?
An owner’s name may be recorded in different ways in different folios, especially if registrations span a number of years. Spelling may have changed; spaces between words and punctuation may also vary. Qualifications, and titles such as ‘Doctor’, may or may not be recorded as part of the name.
Examples:
- If the owner is registered as 'Annie O’Hare', searching for 'Ann%O'Hare' will find the owner, searching for 'Ann O’Hare' will not.
- If the owner is registered as 'T. G. Beattie Ltd', searching for 'T%G%Beattie%' will find the owner, searching for 'T G Beattie Ltd' will not.
- If the owner is registered as 'James McWhirter' (i.e. with an extra space before the surname), searching for 'James%McWhirter' will find the owner, searching for 'James McWhirter' will not.
- If the owner is registered as 'James Mulhearn M.D.', searching for 'James Mulhearn M%' will find the owner, searching for 'James Mulhearn' will not.
Using wild cards to find an owner name
You can use ‘wild cards’ to improve the chances of including all registered versions of an owner’s name in your search. Wild Cards can be used to solve problems arising from:
- alternative spellings
- use of titles in owners' names
- degrees and other qualifications
- special characters
- long names
Alternative Spellings
- Searching for 'Ryan M%cdonald will find both 'Ryan MacDonald' and 'Ryan McDonald'
- Searching for 'Barbara Sm%th%' will find 'Barbara Smith' and 'Barbara Smyth' , as well as 'Barbara Smethers'
Use of titles in owners' names
- Use a wild card to find a name where a title (e.g. 'Doctor', 'Sir' or 'Professor') may have been used.
- Searching for '%Paul Craven' will find records listed under 'Paul Craven' and 'Doctor Paul Craven'. Note, however, that using '% Paul Craven' (with a space before 'Paul') would not find 'Paul Craven'.
- If you know that a space exists, include it in your search.
Degrees and other qualifications
- An owner's name may include an honour, degree or professional qualification (e.g. O.B.E., B.Sc., F.C.C.A.) after the surname.
- Entering a wild card after the name will find owners with qualifications, e.g. 'Sam Johnson %'
Special characters
- A company name may use '&' instead of 'and' (e.g. 'McNally & Son'), try searching for 'McNally % Son'.
- Surnames (e.g. 'O'Connell') may include an apostrophe. Apostrophes would normally be included in the computer record, but in some cases they may have been omitted. Searching for 'O%Connell' would find both possible entries.
- Names may be hyphenated. 'Rose%Marie McPolin' would find an owner whether she was recorded as 'Rose Marie McPolin', 'Rose-Marie McPolin' or 'Rosemarie McPolin'.
- Company names can be difficult to find as abbreviations are often but not always used e.g. "Limited" might be recorded as "Ltd." or "Ltd", "Company" might be recorded as "Co."
- On different occasions a company name might have been recorded in a variety of versions.
- If you could not find "Tony Quinn and Company Limited", you could try the name followed immediately by a wild card, i.e. 'Tony Quinn%' would find: 'Tony Quinn', 'Tony Quinn and Co. Ltd', 'Tony Quinn & Co Limited', 'Tony Quinn and Company Ltd.', 'Tony Quinn & Company Limited'
Long names
- You can enter up to 41 characters for an Owner Name. If the name you are looking for exceeds this limit, try using a wild card as the final character.