do councils know who OWNS a home?

[milly-tint]

I want to know if council's know who OWNS a home rather than just who actually LIVES there? Or is this protected by the data protection act?

[ummmm]

Try the land register.

[ummmm]

I get a warm glowing feeling when I get a question right...

[The Builder]

............... er ............. not trying to be awkward ........ but......... there are still thousands of properties around that are unregistered because they've stayed in the same hands for years. They'll only get registered when they change hands.
Oh dear ............. I've trodden all over Ummy's warm glow .......... :o(

[Buenchico]

As others have indicated, the title registers of every property on the electronic records of the Land Registry are public documents and can be downloaded for a fee of £4:
https://www.landregis...ortal/Property_Search

Compulsory registration of properties has been introduced gradually. For example, compulsory registration of properties within central London was introduced in 1899 but it wasn't until 1966 that compulsion applied in Birmingham. However the whole of the country finally became subject to compulsory registration in 1990. Every property which has been sold or transferred since then should now be on the Land Register, as well as properties which were already on the Register because of the earlier compulsory registration requirements in some parts of the country. Additionally, even if a property has not been sold since it became subject to compulsory registration, it might have been voluntarily added to the Register by its owner. Over 20 million properties are now on the Register.

However local councils have no direct access to the information on the Register. They have to obtain it in the same way that anyone else can.

Chris