The short method: build the entity list at Companies House → run each entity against HM Land Registry CCOD by number and by name → consolidate and de-duplicate the matched titles → export → order official registers only for the titles that matter. The step people skip is the first one, and it is the step that determines whether the answer is complete.
Why the entity list comes first
The instinct is to type the company name into a search box and read off the result. That works when the business is a single trading company that owns its own premises. It fails, quietly and completely, in exactly the situations where the question matters most.
Property-holding structures are built to separate assets. A group might place each site in its own special-purpose vehicle so it can be sold or financed independently, keep a holding company above them that owns nothing directly, and run the trading business from a fourth entity that owns nothing at all. Search the name on the letterhead and you may well get a nil return from a group holding a hundred titles.
So the first task is not a property search. It is establishing which legal entities could plausibly hold the property, and you build that list from the company register.
Building the list at Companies House
For the target company, collect:
- The registration number, in full, including leading zeros.
- Every former name. Companies House records name changes with dates. A title registered under the old name and never updated still shows the old name in CCOD.
- Subsidiaries and parents. Group structure appears in the annual accounts of the parent; the notes usually list subsidiary undertakings with their registration numbers.
- Companies sharing the registered office, which frequently surfaces sibling SPVs in the same group.
- Companies sharing directors. A director's appointment history is the fastest route to the rest of a small group.
The distinction between the two registers is worth internalising, and is covered in Companies House vs Land Registry: Companies House tells you which entities exist and how they relate; HM Land Registry tells you what those entities own.
Step by step
Step 1 — Search by registration number
Run each entity's number. This is the precise pass: an exact match on an unambiguous identifier, with no risk of pulling in a similarly named but unrelated company. Preserve leading zeros — 00456789 and 456789 are different strings, and stripping the zeros is the most common single cause of a false nil return.
Step 2 — Search by company name
Now run the names, including the former names you collected. This is the recall pass, and it will return noise as well as signal. Work through:
- Suffix variants — Ltd, Limited, PLC, LLP, and titles registered with no suffix at all.
- Punctuation and spacing differences, including ampersands written out as "and".
- Abbreviations and truncations, which appear where a long name was shortened on registration.
- Former names, which is where the previously invisible holdings usually turn up.
Name matching is deliberately tolerant so it catches these cases, which means every name hit needs the identity checks below before you keep it.
Step 3 — Search by director where the structure is opaque
If you suspect there are entities you have not identified, work from the people instead. A director search resolves an individual's name to their Companies House appointments and then checks each of those companies against the ownership data. This is how you find the SPV nobody mentioned. It is also the right tool when the question is about a person's property interests rather than a named company's.
Step 4 — Consolidate and de-duplicate
Merge the results and de-duplicate on title number, which is the stable unique key. Two things routinely inflate a raw count:
- Joint proprietors. A title can record up to four proprietors, so a jointly held title may appear once per matched owner.
- Multiple-address titles. One title can cover several addresses, flagged by the multiple-address indicator. Counting addresses overstates the number of titles; counting titles understates the number of units.
Decide which unit you are reporting — titles or addresses — and state it. A portfolio described as "112 properties" when it is 112 addresses across 47 titles will not survive scrutiny.
Step 5 — Verify each match
For every retained row, confirm the registration number against Companies House, check the proprietor address is consistent with a known address for the entity, confirm the proprietorship category fits, and sanity-check the date the proprietor was added against the incorporation date. A title that predates the company is a name collision, not a holding.
Step 6 — Export, then escalate selectively
Export the consolidated set to CSV for portfolio review, or JSON to feed a downstream system. Then order official copies of the register — £3 per title at the time of writing — only for the titles that carry real weight in the matter. The screening step exists precisely so you do not order a hundred registers to find the three that matter. Working practices for larger sets are in bulk property data export.
Next step
Run the search now
Search by company name, registration number, director, or address, then export the matched titles as CSV or JSON.
Reading the portfolio once you have it
A consolidated list supports a few questions immediately, without any further ordering:
- Scale and concentration. How many titles, and how are they distributed across districts and regions? A portfolio concentrated in one local authority carries a different risk profile from one spread across twenty.
- Tenure mix. A largely leasehold portfolio implies rent obligations and expiry risk that a freehold portfolio does not.
- Acquisition pattern. The date-proprietor-added field, sorted chronologically, shows whether holdings were assembled steadily or in bursts — and bursts usually correspond to a financing or corporate event worth understanding.
- Structural tells. One title per entity across many entities is the signature of an SPV-per-asset structure. Many titles in one entity suggests an operating business holding its own estate.
What the list does not support is any conclusion about value, encumbrance or beneficial interest. Price paid is recorded only where a price was captured and is frequently blank; charges are on the register, not in the dataset; and the registered proprietor may hold on trust for a party who appears nowhere. See what CCOD does and does not tell you.
When the answer is "nothing found"
A nil return is a genuine result, but it is a much weaker statement than it looks, and it should be written up carefully. Before concluding that a company owns no property, rule out each of these:
| Possible cause | How to rule it out |
|---|---|
| Zero-stripped or mistyped number | Re-run with the full eight-character number from Companies House |
| Assets in subsidiaries | Run every entity in the group, not just the parent |
| Title under a former name | Re-run using each historic name from the filing history |
| Overseas entity ownership | Check the separate OCOD dataset for non-UK incorporated owners |
| Unregistered land | Some land in England and Wales has never been registered; no search will surface it |
| Very recent acquisition | Registration lags completion, and publication is monthly |
| Held by an individual, not the company | CCOD covers corporate proprietors only |
| Scotland or Northern Ireland | Different registers entirely — Registers of Scotland, Land and Property Services |
Where to go next
- Company property search UK — the wider guide to the workflow and its limits.
- Tracing property through group companies and SPVs — for structured groups.
- CCOD data explained — a field-by-field reference.
- Due-diligence checklist — the review steps in checklist form.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find all the properties a company owns in the UK?
Build the list of corporate entities involved from Companies House, including former names and subsidiaries, then check each entity against HM Land Registry's Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data. Search by registration number for precision and by name to catch variants, consolidate the matched titles, and order official copies of the register for the titles that matter.
Can I get a complete list of a company's property?
You can get a complete list of the registered titles in England and Wales on which that company is recorded as proprietor as at the latest data publication. That is not necessarily the same as everything the business controls: assets may sit in subsidiaries, in overseas entities recorded in the separate OCOD dataset, on unregistered land, or be held beneficially through a nominee.
Why does a company search return no properties?
The most common reasons are a mistyped or zero-stripped registration number, assets held in subsidiaries rather than the parent, a title still registered under a former company name, ownership through an overseas entity, land that is unregistered, or a transfer too recent to have been published in the monthly refresh.
Does the search include leasehold as well as freehold?
Yes. CCOD records the tenure of each title, so both freehold and registrable leasehold interests appear. Short leases that are not registrable — generally those granted for seven years or less — do not appear, which is why an occupied unit can show no corporate leasehold title.