Three corrections that prevent most errors: a title is not a property — one building can have many titles and one title many addresses. Tenure describes the registered interest, not the building type. And the proprietor address is a historic register entry, not current contact details.
Title number: the key, not the property
The title number uniquely identifies a registered interest in land. It is the primary key of the whole system: de-duplicate on it, order official copies with it, and cite it when referring to a specific holding.
What it is not is a property identifier. The relationship between titles and buildings runs both ways:
- One building, many titles. A multi-let office has a freehold title plus a leasehold title for each registrable lease. Thirty rows, one building.
- One title, many addresses. An estate, a parade, a retail park can sit on a single title, flagged by the multiple-address indicator. One row, forty units.
This is why "how many properties does this company own?" has no single answer from the data, and why any figure you report needs its unit stated. Counting titles understates units where multiple-address titles are present; counting addresses overstates holdings where tenure layers stack.
Practical notes: title numbers are not sequential, carry no geographic meaning, and formats vary because they were allocated by different district registries over many decades. Do not try to infer anything from the number itself.
Tenure: the interest, not the building
Tenure is freehold or leasehold, and it describes the registered interest — not what kind of property it is and not how substantial the holding is.
The misreadings are predictable:
| Assumption | Reality |
|---|---|
| "Leasehold means a flat" | Leasehold titles cover offices, warehouses, whole retail parks, land — anything let on a registrable lease |
| "Freehold means they own the building" | They own the freehold interest. The building may be entirely let on long leases held by others |
| "Leasehold is a minor interest" | A 999-year lease at a peppercorn is economically close to freehold. A 15-year lease with five years left is not. Tenure alone cannot tell them apart |
| "One row per building" | Freehold and leasehold interests in the same building are separate rows with different proprietors |
For portfolio analysis the working rule is: separate the tenure layers before you count anything. Freehold rows approximate the ownership layer; leasehold rows are occupational or intermediate interests. Mixed together they inflate the portfolio by counting the same asset at several levels.
And what tenure never tells you is the term, unexpired residue, rent, review provisions, break rights or alienation restrictions. All of that is in the lease, evidenced by the register.
Proprietor address: corroboration, not contact details
Up to three address lines are recorded per proprietor. This is the address as entered on the title at registration, which means it may be:
- A registered office the company has since moved from.
- The solicitor's or agent's address used for the transaction.
- A trading address unrelated to the registered office.
- An address for a company that has since been renamed or restructured.
Its real value is identity corroboration. When you have a name match and need to know whether it is your target company, an address consistent with the registered office history at the relevant date is good supporting evidence, and a complete mismatch is a signal to look harder before accepting the row.
What it should not be used for is writing to someone. For service of notice, use the register and the current Companies House registered office.
Next step
Read the fields for yourself
Run a search and review title number, tenure, proprietor and dates across matched titles.
Two more fields worth getting right
Price paid
Populated only where consideration was recorded at registration, and blank on a great many rows. Where present it is historic, and it may reflect an intra-group transfer, a nominal consideration, or an apportionment of a portfolio deal across many titles.
So: a blank means "not recorded", never "transferred for nothing". A figure is a historic consideration, never a valuation. And summing the column across a portfolio produces a number that looks precise and is close to meaningless.
Date proprietor added
This is when the register was updated, not when the deal completed. Registration follows application, which follows completion, so there is a real gap — usually weeks, sometimes considerably longer for complex applications.
It remains the best chronological signal in the dataset. Sorted across a portfolio it shows whether holdings were assembled steadily or in bursts, and bursts usually correspond to a financing or corporate event worth understanding. Just do not use it to establish what a party owned on a specific date; for that, the register is the source.
Note too that it can reset on some administrative changes, so an old asset may show a recent date without any transaction having occurred.
The two indicator fields people ignore
- Multiple address indicator. Set where a title covers more than one address. Ignore it and your counts are wrong in ways that get worse at the top of any ranking, because the largest holdings are the most likely to be estates on single titles.
- Additional proprietor indicator. Set where there are more proprietors than the four columns hold. This means the data you can see is incomplete by construction — the only way to see the rest is the register. If this flag is set on a title that matters, order the official copy.
A reading checklist
- De-duplicate on title number.
- Separate freehold from leasehold before counting.
- Check the multiple-address flag and decide your counting unit.
- Check the additional-proprietor flag and escalate where set.
- Treat blank price paid as unknown, not zero.
- Read date proprietor added as a registration date.
- Use proprietor address to corroborate identity, not to make contact.
- Reconcile the registration number before trusting any name match.
Read next
- CCOD data explained — the full field reference
- What CCOD does and does not tell you
- Bulk property data export
Frequently asked questions
What is a title number?
A title number is the unique identifier HM Land Registry assigns to a registered title. It is the stable key for that registered interest: use it to de-duplicate search results and to order official copies of the register or title plan. It is not sequential and carries no geographic meaning.
Does one property have one title number?
Not necessarily, and this is the most common misconception. A single building routinely has one freehold title plus a separate leasehold title for each registrable lease within it. Conversely, one title can cover many addresses — an estate or a parade — flagged by the multiple-address indicator.
Is the proprietor address the company's registered office?
Often, but not reliably. It is the address recorded on the title at the point of registration, which may be a registered office the company has since left, a solicitor's or agent's address, or a trading address. It is useful for corroborating identity but should not be treated as current contact details.