The division of labour: CCOD answers which titles and who holds them, across a whole portfolio, for free, in seconds. The title register answers what is actually on this title — charges, restrictions, covenants — authoritatively, for £3, one title at a time. Screening with the first to decide what to order from the second is the whole workflow.
Two records, two different jobs
The mistake that costs money runs in both directions. Order official copies for every title in a large portfolio and you have spent a great deal for information you did not need on most of them. Rely on the dataset for a question about encumbrances and you have advised on a title without looking at what is registered against it.
Neither record is a substitute for the other, because they were produced for different purposes. CCOD is open data derived from the register, published in bulk so that landholding can be analysed. The title register is the register itself — the document HM Land Registry maintains and whose accuracy the state guarantees.
Side by side
| CCOD dataset | Official copy of the register | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Bulk ownership index derived from the register | The authoritative record for one title |
| Scope | All corporate-held titles, England and Wales | One title at a time |
| Searchable by owner | Yes — this is its distinctive value | No — you need the title number first |
| Registered proprietor | Yes, with registration number | Yes, with the full proprietorship entry |
| Tenure | Yes | Yes |
| Charges and mortgages | No | Yes |
| Restrictions and notices | No | Yes |
| Covenants and easements | No | Yes |
| Boundaries | No | Title plan, ordered separately |
| Individual owners | No — corporate only | Yes |
| Currency | Monthly snapshot | As at the moment of issue |
| Evidential weight | Screening tool | Official copy, admissible |
| Cost | Free under licence | £3 per title |
Where the dataset wins
Three things CCOD does that no number of official copies can:
- Owner-first search. The register is indexed by title. You cannot ask it what a company owns. CCOD can be indexed by proprietor, which reverses the question — and that reversal is the entire reason the dataset matters.
- Portfolio-level view. Distribution across districts, tenure mix, acquisition chronology. You would need to order and read every register in a portfolio to reconstruct this, at £3 a time.
- Cost-free triage. Narrowing two hundred titles to the five that matter, before spending anything.
Where only the register will do
Escalate whenever the answer carries legal or financial consequence:
- Before serving notice. Serve on the basis of the register entry, not a monthly snapshot. Proprietors change and registration lags.
- Before exchange or completion. Obvious, but worth stating: the dataset has no standing here.
- Any question about encumbrances. Charges, restrictions, notices — absent from the dataset entirely, so their absence there means nothing.
- Any question about extent. Whether the disputed strip is inside the title is a title-plan question.
- Covenants and easements. Restrictive covenants and rights of way are register matters.
- Where the proprietor entry itself matters. The register may show the proprietor holds on trust, or record a restriction on disposition — detail the dataset compresses away.
- Individually owned property. Not in the dataset at all.
Next step
Screen before you order
Find the titles a company holds, then order official copies only for the ones that matter to the matter.
The screening-then-escalation workflow
- Identify the entities from Companies House, including former names and subsidiaries.
- Screen with CCOD to get the candidate titles, free.
- Confirm identity on registration number, proprietor address and proprietorship category.
- Triage by relevance. Which titles are actually in scope — the subject site, the material assets, the ones your question turns on?
- Order official copies for that shortlist, plus title plans where extent matters.
- Reconcile. If the register shows a different proprietor from the dataset, the register is right and the dataset is stale.
That last step is not a formality. A discrepancy usually means a transfer completed after the dataset was published, and the fact that ownership recently changed is often itself material.
A worked example
A target company is said to hold "a portfolio of industrial units in the North West". Ordering official copies blind is impossible — you do not know the title numbers. So:
Screening the company and its subsidiaries against CCOD returns, say, 34 titles across four entities, of which 28 are freehold and 6 leasehold, concentrated in two districts. That alone reshapes the diligence: you now know the asset perimeter, which entity holds what, and that there is leasehold exposure nobody mentioned.
You then order registers for the six leasehold titles (because the lease terms and any restrictions matter), plus the three largest freeholds by apparent size, plus any title where the proprietor address looked anomalous. That is a dozen official copies rather than 34 — and, more importantly, a dozen chosen for a reason you can articulate.
Do not mistake absence for absence
The most consequential misreading of the dataset is treating a missing field as a negative finding. CCOD contains no charges field. That means it is silent on charges — not that the title is unencumbered. The same applies to restrictions, covenants and every other register entry the dataset omits.
If your note says anything about encumbrances, it must be based on a register you have actually read. The fuller list of what the dataset omits is in what CCOD does and does not tell you.
Read next
- CCOD data explained
- What CCOD does and does not tell you
- Free Land Registry search: what's free and what isn't
Frequently asked questions
Is CCOD the same as the title register?
No. CCOD is a bulk dataset derived from the register, listing title number, tenure, address and registered proprietor for corporate-held titles. The title register is the authoritative per-title document and additionally shows charges, restrictions, covenants and the full proprietorship entry. CCOD tells you which titles exist and who holds them; the register tells you what is on them.
When do I need the official copy rather than the dataset?
Whenever the answer has legal effect or financial consequence: before serving notice, before exchanging, before advising on encumbrances, and any time you need charges, restrictions, covenants or boundaries. Use the dataset to decide which titles to order, then order those.
How much does an official copy of the title register cost?
£3 per title at the time of writing, with the title plan a separate £3. Because the fee is per title, screening a portfolio first to identify which titles genuinely matter is usually far cheaper than ordering registers speculatively.