HowTo Find out who owns a property ?

fatboypee

Not sure this belongs here but scouring the boards I can't find a relevant home.

Any idea if theres an online/offline even way of finding out who owns a particular house ? Is there anything other than land registry ?

Cheers

Fatboy

Alun

Knock on the door and ask them?

fatboypee

Alun wrote:

Knock on the door and ask them?

suppose I asked for that one but the place I'm interested in is run-down and I've never seen anyone in or around it....

Degsy

break in and squat the place,afetr a period of ten years or so YOU'LL own it!

Alun

fatboypee wrote:

suppose I asked for that one but the place I'm interested in is run-down and I've never seen anyone in or around it....

Yeah, sorry for that, but like you said, you were asking for it:D

Anyway, I'd try either the Land Registry or the local town council. Places like this that have stood empty for a good while are either owned by property developers waiting for the "right time" to either develop or sell on, or they're the result of some horrendously complicated and convoluted family dispute after someone's death.

fatboypee

Alun wrote:

Anyway, I'd try either the Land Registry or the local town council. Places like this that have stood empty for a good while are either owned by property developers waiting for the "right time" to either develop or sell on, or they're the result of some horrendously complicated and convoluted family dispute after someone's death.

ahhh but if its the latter, a nicee wee bid to 'take it off their hands' may be successful..... .....

Alun

fatboypee wrote:

ahhh but if its the latter, a nicee wee bid to 'take it off their hands' may be successful..... .....

Not as easy as you might think. There was a series on BBC2 recently where they were tracking down abandoned houses all over the UK, tracking down the owners (not always successfully) and then trying to bargain a price. Usually what happened was that the property was in the hands of the executors of a will, and trying to get everybody involved to agree a price was nigh on impossible. There was always one awkward family member who didn't want to sell for some reason or another. Good luck, anyway !

fatboypee

Alun wrote:

Not as easy as you might think. There was a series on BBC2 recently where they were tracking down abandoned houses all over the UK, tracking down the owners (not always successfully) and then trying to bargain a price. Usually what happened was that the property was in the hands of the executors of a will, and trying to get everybody involved to agree a price was nigh on impossible. There was always one awkward family member who didn't want to sell for some reason or another. Good luck, anyway !

Thanks,

Not easy I know, when I lived in the UK my neighbouring house was derrelict. trying to find out who owned it to make them an offer or even get them to maintain it (serious damp thru part wall) was a nightmare !

This one's an ex-council bungalow, make a v.nice investment as its in a superb location....

squire1

You might call into a local Estate Agent. If you tell them you might be interested in buying it they may know/or find out who owns it and try and get the sale. Make them do the work:)

fatboypee

squire1 wrote:

You might call into a local Estate Agent. If you tell them you might be interested in buying it they may know/or find out who owns it and try and get the sale. Make them do the work:)

Good Idea, issue is tho I want a private sale to keep the costs down.. estate agents cost a min of 1% from the seller which will inevitably get added to the cost of the house.... may do that tho if all else fails...

prospect

tell us where the property is, someone here might know who owns it!

Alun

prospect wrote:

tell us where the property is, someone here might know who owns it!

Yes, and if it's any good I might buy it myself

Lex Luthor

Alun wrote:

Yes, and if it's any good I might buy it myself

and rent it out to a bunch of samba drum banging immigrants.....;)

fatboypee

ahhh ... just a pipe dream on my account currently, looking at buying it (or one in the same road / estate) as a pension / retirement option... theory being I could sell my own and move back into town or if the whim takes me, sell both and bu-gger off somewhere else if / when the time comes... mean-time get somebody else (no drums allowed ) to pay the mortgage... ..

Not a property tycoon, simply a well positioned pension.... just can't afford any of the more modern houses, under 200k is my best but as you can see here, there aint alot about:

http://www.harrybrann.com



FBP..

Smokeyskelton

Not sure if the property is covered by Thoms Directory or not, but you could check in your local library. Just look up the address and it should list the owner. Let us know how you got on.

Smokey

saibhne

Hi there,
I'm (kind of) in the same position and have spent a long time trying to locate the owner of a property but have had no luck as yet.
I would recommend you visit the Valuation office http://www.valoff.ie/ in person. You can physically point out the property on a map and they will do a search to find who the last person who paid rates on that property was - ring them first to see if you can still do this as it looks like they may have modernised since I was there. If you're lucky you will get a name and year which you can then bring to the Registry of deeds and ask to do a search there. You'll have to put on your Private investigator hat and employ some guesswork to narrow the search down to their criteria though - e.g. you must know the name of the person who sold the house and the year of the transaction. Not all transactions are registered so it could be a dead end. Worth a try though - searches are quite cheap.
Estate agents in the area are also worth a try - ask for the person working longest in the office as you would increase your chances of them knowing the history of the area.
You could also try the ESB or Bord Gais - not sure if they can give out the information but they certainly would know who is paying the bills. (Maybe way lay the postman and see if he can give you the name of the previous occupants??)
Alternatively you could employ a solicitor to do the search but the last one I spoke to quoted me 3 grand to start and said it could take a couple of years to resolve. He also said it is the kind of work solicitors hate doing..

hope this helps..

S.

Victor

Check if anyone has applied for planning permission (all the way back to 1963).