RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: meathead on Monday 22 October 18 18:19 BST (UK)
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Hi, my daughter has recently moved house and is interested in finding out how old the house is, is there anyway of finding this out?
Thankyou
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There is no easy answer to this one but I offer the following as a starting off point.
Firstly do you have any idea of the general age or period of the property.
For example any development after 1948 should be relatively easy to date as the Local Planning Authorities were obliged under the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 to keep a Register and a map showing all the development in their area.
Prior to this time you would possibly need to look at "styles" of houses to identify a date range, say 1930s Ribbon Development , or Edwardian villas, or Victorian terraces with their distinctive design features.
Local Authority Conservation Teams in the Planning Depts might be a good place to start. But bear in mind that before 1948 the information base may not be very detailed particularly in the more rural districts, where much useful information has sometimes (often) been confined to the Corporation incinerator.
I know of one authority which did a systematic cull of the files, saving a "sample" of about 10% to be sent to the Local Archivist, the rest to the tip!
Good hunting.
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Looking for the house on old maps can be helpful.
There are some old Ordnance Survey maps here
https://maps.nls.uk/os/
and try
https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/
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Thankyou
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Firstly do you have any idea of the general age or period of the property.
Is the above info. not on her title deeds?
I know I have to tell my insurance company the yr my house was built?
Where in the world is the property?
Annie
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Where in the world is the property?
Annie
England I bet! https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2018/02/19/title-deeds/
“Generally, we only have the original title deeds when land or property is registered for the first time, as we need them to prepare the register. We create scanned copies of some deeds and then return all the original title deeds to whoever lodged them. This is usually the solicitor or conveyancer acting on behalf of the buyer.
So, if you’re trying to track down your original deeds, they could be with the solicitor who acted for you when you bought the property, or possibly with your mortgage company, if you have a mortgage.
If the property was already registered when you bought it, the seller may not have handed over the original deeds. There’s no requirement for them to do so. Tracing the original deeds for a property that has been bought and sold many times is likely to be an impossible task.”
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I'm pretty sure there must be enough info. on the Deeds when someone buys a/any property which would give at least an approx. date of build?
I don't recall having to research when my property was built for the purpose of info. to my insurer?
Then again, I live in Scotland & property is in Scotland i.e. things may be different?
Annie
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I understand that for privacy reasons you would not want to give the address, but if you could post a picture of the house we can give our opinions. Or .... if you are willing to send the address via PM I would be willing to have a look at the house on google maps and offer an opinion (if I can). ;) I understand completely if you don't wish to do this.
I believe there is a way to research a house via deeds but I think that there may be a cost involved.
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We only knew that our house was built between the wars. One day we had a plumber in and he asked how old it was. When Dad said he didn't know the exact date, the plumber looked closely at the bath taps. They had the date on them - 1922! It probably was on the deeds, but they were at the bank and I don't suppose Dad had looked for it.
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You might be able to discover when it first appeared in Valuation Rolls.
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I had to apply to The Land Registry to find out something important.
The copy of the relevant deed cost a little over £7 00.
Viktoria.
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When meathead gets back to us we can help more, as we really need to know which country the house is in....she may be able look for the address on the 1939 as well to see if it was built by then. However, it seems it may be older.
As I understand it, you can download a current title sheet from the English Land Registry for a fee but that doesn't tell you previous owners or transactions. You then have to pay an additional fee for each previous transfer; they must keep records of earlier title sheets. In Scotland the Register of Sasines a single property search sheet tells you all the transactions & recorded deeds from 1870 [1st series] then 1880 onwards [2nd series] - though purchases, transfers & new registrations after each county was transferred to the Land Register are now in that register.
Did you get any picture via pm yet, Ruskie?
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We only knew that our house was built between the wars. One day we had a plumber in and he asked how old it was. When Dad said he didn't know the exact date, the plumber looked closely at the bath taps. They had the date on them - 1922! It probably was on the deeds, but they were at the bank and I don't suppose Dad had looked for it.
That's how I dated my house. When I received the title deeds they showed I was correct.
Electoral registers may be another route.
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No. No picture yet josey.
Understandably, Meathead may not wish to reveal the address however a photo would be anonymous and could be posted on the boards for others to offer their opinions too ... perhaps. :)
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I would go for electoral registers too. If your starting point is "between the wars" which equates to 1929 ± 10 years, find out where you can see historic electoral registers, start with 1929 and see if you can find the house or road or row of houses. If it is older you may be able to track the address in the 1911 census or again on voters lists. And so on.
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The deeds for my own parent's last house showed the date of building, and when/from who the land was purchased. That also meant that the previous owner could be looked up in old censuses. The house they had before that, earliest date on deeds was 1804. The house I was actually born in was even earlier, and I lived for the first few years of my life in one dating from 1640 - and that also was carved above the porch, so the house may even have been a little older itself.
Most deeds will surely have information on them. Current house, built 1974, certainly has. Can't believe we're the only ones where all deeds have dates ... including extensions etc. I recall reading through the deeds and making notes when we bought house - as for some years the Building Society actually had the documents!