When was my house built?

Knowing your property’s age can often be essential for selling

Buyers will typically want to know the age of your house or flat when they talk with you about potentially purchasing your property, and it some cases having this information might be essentially before they can complete the sale. Some home insurance applications will require the date, so when you are selling you need to able to find out when your property was built.

Start your search at the HM Land Registry

The first place you should start your search for your home’s age is the HM Land Registry, which is a great source of information on properties throughout England and Wales. Through simple searches and some small fees for downloading certain documents, you can obtain a host of data on houses and flats including title deeds that list their current owners, and more.

The HM Land Registry has all of this information because it is the non-ministerial government department responsible for registering home ownership. Finding out the age of your property can take just a matter of minutes after you search for it by address and click on the data that you want.

It is important to know that the HM Land Registry does not have specific details on what has been built on the land you’re looking at, merely the ownership of that land. But it is possible to figure out the exact age of your home if it was sold by the same developer that built it. If that is the case you can find the age by looking at the date of the first land transfer or first lease by the developer, because this information is typically including in the registry’s database.

But the HM Land Registry also cautions on its website that if the developer who built the property did not sell it, the registry will not have any information on the age of your home.

HM Land Registry have also written a blog helping you answer the question "When was my house built?" – it is certainly worth a read.

Alternative options for finding out when your hosue was built

If your search with the HM Land Registry does not help you find out the age of your house or flat, you still have a number of other options available for getting this information.

Some of the options are very quick and simple – for example asking your next door neighbours whether they know anything about how old your house is. Sometimes they will surprise you with knowing extensive details about the property, potentially including its age.

You can also visit your local council or library and search through their records to see if they have any information on your house or flat, including when it was built.

And if you have a mortgage on your house or flat, there is a good chance that the date of the property might be included in the documents generated as part of the lending process. It is a relatively straightforward, free and fast way to find out your property’s age.