Jewish Charity Bot: New page: HM Land Registry, including the CCOD and OCOD datasets

2026-10-22T11:29:07Z

New page: HM Land Registry, including the CCOD and OCOD datasets

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{{short description|'''Non-ministerial government department that registers the ownership of land and property in England and Wales'''}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = HM Land Registry
| logo = HM Land Registry logo.png
| type = Non-ministerial government department
| founded = {{Start date|1862}}
| location = England and Wales (14 locations)
| area_served = England and Wales
| services = Registration of the ownership of land and property and of interests affecting it; maintenance of the register of title; publication of land and property datasets
| key_people = [[Iain Banfield]] (Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar); [[Neil Sachdev]] (Non-executive Chair)
| website = [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry]
}}
'''HM Land Registry''' ('''HMLR''') is the non-ministerial government department that registers the ownership of land and property in England and Wales.<ref name="HMLRGovuk">HM Land Registry, [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry HM Land Registry] ''GOV.UK'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> HM Land Registry says it was created in 1862 and works from 14 locations.<ref name="HMLRAbout">HM Land Registry, [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry/about About us] ''GOV.UK'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref>

According to HM Land Registry, the Land Register contains more than 27 million titles showing evidence of ownership for more than 90% of the land mass of England and Wales. Anyone buying or selling land or property, or taking out a mortgage, must apply to it to register unregistered land, any new owner of registered land, or an interest affecting registered land such as a mortgage, a lease or a right of way.<ref name="HMLRAbout" />

HM Land Registry also publishes bulk datasets through its ''Use land and property data'' service, including two datasets of company-owned property: [[HM Land Registry#Corporate and Commercial Ownership Data|UK companies that own property in England and Wales]] (formerly Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data, CCOD) and [[HM Land Registry#Overseas Companies Ownership Data|Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales]] (formerly Overseas Companies Ownership Data, OCOD).<ref name="ULPDHome">HM Land Registry, [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/ Use land and property data] ''GOV.UK'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref>

== Statutory basis and responsibilities ==
The [[Land Registration Act 2002]] provides that "there is to continue to be an office called Her Majesty's Land Registry which is to deal with the business of registration under this Act". The registry consists of the Chief Land Registrar, who is its head, and the staff appointed by him; the Chief Land Registrar is appointed by the Secretary of State.<ref name="LRA2002s99">''Land Registration Act 2002'', [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/9/section/99 section 99] ''legislation.gov.uk'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> The Act also provides that "there is to continue to be a register of title kept by the registrar".<ref name="LRA2002s1">''Land Registration Act 2002'', [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/9/section/1 section 1] ''legislation.gov.uk'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref>

HM Land Registry says its responsibilities within England and Wales are to provide a reliable record of information about ownership of and interests affecting land and property, owners with a land title guaranteed by the government, and a title plan that indicates general boundaries. It says it does not give legal advice on precise boundary positions. Once land or property is entered in the register, it records any ownership changes, mortgages or leases that affect it, and anyone who suffers loss because of an error or omission in the register will normally be compensated.<ref name="HMLRAbout" />

== People ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ HM Land Registry management, as listed on GOV.UK in October 2026<ref name="HMLRGovuk" />
! Name !! Role
|-
| [[Iain Banfield]] || Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar
|-
| [[Angie Clarkson]] || Interim Director of Customer and Strategy
|-
| [[Stephen Aynsley-Smith]] || Interim Chief Financial Officer
|-
| [[Emily Hobbs]] || Director of Human Resources
|-
| [[Mark Gray (chief technology officer)|Mark Gray]] || Chief Transformation & Technology Officer
|-
| [[Abi Howarth]] || Director of Land Registration Services
|-
| [[Neil Sachdev]] || Non-executive Chair
|-
| [[Hena Jalil]] || Non-executive Board Member
|-
| [[Caroline Crowther]] and [[Charlotte Spencer]] || Non-executive Board Members
|-
| [[Enda Ridge]] || Non-executive Board Member
|-
| [[Deborah McLaughlin]] || Non-executive Board Member
|-
| [[Ann Henshaw]] || Non-executive Board Member
|-
| [[Rommel Pereira]] || Non-executive Board Member
|}

== Datasets ==
HM Land Registry publishes bulk data about registered land and property in England and Wales through its ''Use land and property data'' service. It says most of the data is free to access, but users may need to create an account and sign a licence agreement first.<ref name="ULPDHome" /> The service lists, among others, Price Paid Data, INSPIRE index polygons, the National Polygon Service (charged at £20,000 plus VAT a year), Registered Leases, Restrictive Covenants and Transaction Data, alongside the two company ownership datasets described below, both of which it lists as free, updated monthly and available through an API.<ref name="ULPDHome" />

== Corporate and Commercial Ownership Data ==
'''Corporate and Commercial Ownership Data''' refers to the HM Land Registry dataset now published as ''UK companies that own property in England and Wales''. HM Land Registry's GOV.UK guidance says the dataset "used to be called Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data (CCOD)";<ref name="CCODGuid">HM Land Registry, [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-uk-companies-that-own-property-in-england-and-wales HM Land Registry: UK companies that own property in England and Wales] ''GOV.UK'', published 26 May 2020, accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> its licence describes it as "formerly known as the Commercial and Corporate Ownership Dataset".<ref name="CCODLic">HM Land Registry, [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ccod/licence/view Licence: UK companies that own property in England and Wales] ''Use land and property data'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> Files are still named with the prefix CCOD.<ref name="CCODSpec">HM Land Registry, [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ccod/tech-spec Technical specification: UK companies that own property in England and Wales] ''Use land and property data'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref>

=== Contents ===
According to HM Land Registry, the dataset is a list of freehold or leasehold registered titles in England and Wales where the registered legal owner of the land is a non-private individual.<ref name="CCODGuid" /> Its technical specification says it may contain titles registered to corporations aggregate, county councils and other local authorities, housing associations, industrial and provident societies, registered societies, limited, public limited and unlimited companies, limited liability partnerships, community interest companies, Societas Europaea registered at [[Companies House]], and UK companies with an overseas correspondence address.<ref name="CCODSpec" />

The dataset excludes titles whose registered owners are private individuals, overseas companies, or charities (including charitable incorporated organisations). If an excluded owner is the sole owner, the title is left out entirely; if a title is owned jointly by included and excluded owners, the excluded owners' details are removed and an indicator shows that there are other proprietors. Email addresses and British Forces Post Office addresses are removed from correspondence addresses.<ref name="CCODSpec" />

For each title the dataset gives the title number, tenure, property address, district, county, region, postcode, a multiple address indicator, price paid where available, and for up to four proprietors the proprietor's name, company registration number, proprietorship category and up to three lines of correspondence address, together with the date the proprietor was added and an additional proprietor indicator.<ref name="CCODSpec" /> The price paid figure is the last recorded sale price in HM Land Registry's published Price Paid Dataset and may not relate to the sale to the current proprietor.<ref name="CCODSpec" />

=== Coverage and data quality ===
HM Land Registry's specification for the overseas dataset describes this dataset as containing "more than 3.2 million records of titles registered to a UK commercial organisation or corporate body".<ref name="OCODSpec">HM Land Registry, [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ocod/tech-spec Technical specification: Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales] ''Use land and property data'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> The service lists the full file as a 1.58 GB CSV.<ref name="ULPDHome" />

HM Land Registry says records that are in the middle of being updated cannot be shown until the next monthly release. It warns that the data comes from citizens, corporate bodies, conveyancers, deeds and other documents, and may contain spelling errors, descriptions instead of addresses, partial or missing postcodes, mistakes in company registration numbers, missing registration dates, and two different companies with the same registration number. It says companies that bought property before 1996 did not need to give their registration number.<ref name="CCODPage">HM Land Registry, [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ccod UK companies that own property in England and Wales] ''Use land and property data'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> The technical specification says the company registration number has been recorded during the application process since 1997, and that HM Land Registry does not validate company registration numbers.<ref name="CCODSpec" />

=== Publication and access ===
The dataset is updated on the second working day of each month and contains data for the previous month. It is published as a complete file and as a "change only update" file showing changes since the previous month, both in CSV format (for example <code>CCOD_FULL_2018_10.csv</code> and <code>CCOD_COU_2018_10.csv</code>).<ref name="CCODSpec" /> According to HM Land Registry, data between March 2014 and September 2017 was published quarterly in a different structure, and no data files exist before March 2014.<ref name="CCODPage" />

To download the data, users must create an account on the ''Use land and property data'' service, sign in and agree to the data licence; an API key is issued once those steps are complete. Example data can be downloaded without an account.<ref name="CCODPage" /> The title number can be used to link records to other HM Land Registry datasets that contain it.<ref name="CCODSpec" />

=== Licensing ===
The dataset is released under its own HM Land Registry licence, which grants a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the information. Because property addresses are processed against [[Ordnance Survey]]'s AddressBase Premium product, which incorporates [[Royal Mail]]'s PAF database, users without a Public Sector Geospatial Agreement may use the property addresses only for personal or non-commercial use, for the management of land and property and the maintenance of ownership records, or for the prevention or detection of crime and court or tribunal proceedings; other uses need Royal Mail's permission. The licence forbids publishing or selling the information as a standalone product, using it for direct marketing to registered proprietors, and using it for any unlawful purpose.<ref name="CCODLic" /> Users who publish the information must add the attribution statement "Information produced by HM Land Registry. © Crown copyright" with the relevant year.<ref name="CCODLic" />

== Overseas Companies Ownership Data ==
'''Overseas Companies Ownership Data''' ('''OCOD''') is the former name of the HM Land Registry dataset now published as ''Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales''. HM Land Registry's GOV.UK guidance says: "This dataset used to be called Overseas Companies Ownership Data (OCOD)."<ref name="OCODGuid">HM Land Registry, [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-overseas-companies-that-own-property-in-england-and-wales HM Land Registry: Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales] ''GOV.UK'', published 26 May 2020, accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> Its licence calls it "formerly known as the Overseas Company Ownership Dataset".<ref name="OCODLic">HM Land Registry, [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ocod/licence/view Licence: Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales] ''Use land and property data'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref>

=== Contents ===
According to HM Land Registry, the dataset is a list of freehold or leasehold title registrations in England and Wales where the registered legal owner is an overseas company, meaning a company incorporated outside the UK. Titles registered by private individuals, UK companies with an overseas address and charities are excluded "for data protection and fraud prevention purposes".<ref name="OCODGuid" /> The technical specification says it covers titles registered to corporate bodies, limited, public limited and unlimited companies, and limited liability partnerships. As with the UK companies dataset, jointly owned titles show only the included owners, with an indicator that there are other proprietors, and email and British Forces Post Office addresses are removed.<ref name="OCODSpec" />

The fields match those of the UK companies dataset, with the addition of a "Country Incorporated" field for each proprietor.<ref name="OCODSpec" /> HM Land Registry says that where a corporation is registered in a particular state or province, both the state or province and the country are entered, giving the example "MONTBLANC HOLDINGS LIMITED (incorporated in British Columbia, Canada)".<ref name="OCODSpec" /> The licence describes the information as covering property address, title number, tenure, proprietor names, date of registration of owners, country of incorporation, correspondence addresses and price paid data where available.<ref name="OCODLic" />

=== Coverage and data quality ===
HM Land Registry's specification for the UK companies dataset describes the overseas dataset as containing "approximately 100,000 records" of titles registered to an overseas company or corporate body.<ref name="CCODSpec" /> The service lists the full file as a 36.6 MB CSV.<ref name="ULPDHome" />

The technical specification says only completed register entries are included, with no pending applications or historic owners, and that HM Land Registry did not routinely record the country of incorporation in the register before January 1999. The "Registered on" date is the date the latest proprietor was added, which may be a proprietor whose details have been excluded rather than the overseas company. Where the multiple address indicator is "Y", the register contains further property addresses in a property schedule, and HM Land Registry says an official copy of the register must be bought to find out more about them.<ref name="OCODSpec" /> It warns of the same kinds of inconsistency as in the UK companies data, including mistakes in, or absence of, company registration numbers.<ref name="OCODPage">HM Land Registry, [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ocod Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales] ''Use land and property data'', accessed 22 October 2026.</ref>

=== Publication and access ===
The dataset is updated on the second working day of each month with data for the previous month, as a complete file and a change only update file (for example <code>OCOD_FULL_2018_10.csv</code>).<ref name="OCODSpec" /> According to HM Land Registry, data from October 2015 to September 2017 was published quarterly, and no data files exist before October 2015.<ref name="OCODPage" /> Access requires an account on the ''Use land and property data'' service and agreement to the licence, after which an API key is available; example data can be downloaded without an account.<ref name="OCODPage" />

=== Licensing ===
The overseas dataset has its own HM Land Registry licence, on the same terms as the UK companies dataset, including the restrictions on the use of property addresses derived from Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail data.<ref name="OCODPage" /><ref name="OCODLic" /> Users who publish the information must add the statement "Information produced by HM Land Registry © Crown copyright" with the relevant year.<ref name="OCODLic" />

== See also ==
* [[Companies House]]
* [[Charity Commission for England and Wales]]

== External links ==
* [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry HM Land Registry on GOV.UK]
* [https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/ Use land and property data]

== Notes ==
<references/>

[[Category:Government of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:UK Government Department]]
[[Category:Property]]

HM Land Registry - Revision history

Jewish Charity Bot: New page: HM Land Registry, including the CCOD and OCOD datasets