How to check whether a property is leasehold or freehold, and how to get a copy of your lease

In England and Wales, the fastest route is usually HM Land Registry, but Scotland and Northern Ireland use separate registers and Scotland’s long residential leasehold position is sharply different. Across the UK, the answer depends on where the property is and whether the lease was long enough to be registrable.

How do you find out if a property is leasehold or freehold?

In Scotland, qualifying ultra-long residential leases became ownership automatically on 28 November 2015, while in England and Wales you check whether a property is leasehold or freehold by downloading the HM Land Registry title register. The England and Wales title register says whether the property is held “under a lease (leasehold)” or “owned outright (freehold)”, and the official GOV.UK search page says “It costs £7 to get a title register or a title plan.” That is the practical answer to how you know if a property is leasehold or freehold in England and Wales: search the address, buy the register, and read the tenure entry. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not covered by that Land Registry search, because GOV.UK says “You’ll need to search different registers if the property is in Scotland or the property is in Northern Ireland.” For landlords with several properties, Abodient can hold each property’s lease records, including lease start and end dates, so portfolio records do not depend on memory or old conveyancing emails.

How do you check whether a property is freehold or leasehold in Northern Ireland?

In Northern Ireland, you check whether a property is freehold or leasehold through Land Registry NI rather than HM Land Registry, and the official service cannot currently be searched online. nidirect states, “It is not possible to do an online search at present,” so the route is email, phone or an in-person appointment, not the England and Wales online title-register download. The inspection fee is stated as “£5.00 for inspection of each folio, map or instrument.” Once you have the folio, the tenure can be identified from the register: the Department of Finance glossary says “Leasehold Folios have an ‘L’ after the number,” while freehold is described as “Land held forever (‘in Fee simple’) not restricted to a term of years as in a lease, nor for life.” A Northern Ireland lease over 21 years is compulsorily registrable, but shorter leases may not produce the same public register trail.

Who owns the freehold on a leasehold property?

The freehold on a leasehold property is owned by the freeholder, who may be an individual, a company, a council, a housing association, a charitable trust or another body. LEASE, the government-funded leasehold advisory service, explains the basic distinction: “The freeholder owns the land and the building outright, while the landlord is the person you lease the property from.” In many flats those are the same person, but they need not be: there may be a head lease, a management company or another intermediate landlord. In England and Wales, the legal estate behind freehold ownership is the “fee simple absolute in possession,” and a leaseholder has a statutory route to ask for the landlord’s name and address: the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires a written statement within 21 days of the request. Shared freehold is usually held either by up to four named owners or through a company structure, but the documents decide the structure in the particular building.

How do you get a copy of your lease?

In England and Wales, you can get a copy of your lease from your own papers, your conveyancer, your landlord or managing agent, or from HM Land Registry if the lease is registered or filed there. GOV.UK’s leasehold guide says, “You should also be able to get a copy of the lease from the Land Registry for a small charge,” and the Land Registration Act 2002 says “Any person may inspect and make copies of” registered documents kept by the registrar. A certified copy of a lease agreement is therefore usually a Land Registry copy where the lease is registered, not a private favour from the landlord. HM Land Registry’s public support forum says “A copy lease will cost £11 per copy,” but that £11 figure comes from the support forum answer rather than the fee order itself. If you need to find a lease agreement in Scotland or Northern Ireland, use the relevant national register and remember that shorter leases may not be registrable.

Are lease terms confidential?

Registered lease terms in England and Wales are not generally confidential, because any person can inspect and copy registered documents kept by HM Land Registry, but sensitive material can sometimes be withheld through an exempt-information application. The Land Registration Act 2002 says “Any person may inspect and make copies of” register documents, and that is why a filed lease can often be obtained by someone who is not the leaseholder. The right is limited to material actually held by the registrar, including “any document kept by the registrar which is referred to in the register of title,” so an unregistered short lease is different: it is not made public by Land Registry rules, but no special UK-wide rule automatically makes its terms confidential either. In England and Wales, the Land Registration Rules allow an application where a document contains “prejudicial information.” In Scotland, only leases exceeding 20 years can be registered; in Northern Ireland, compulsory registration starts above 21 years.

How do you find out how many years are left on your lease?

You find out how many years are left on your lease by reading the lease term and calculating the time remaining from the start date, because the lease document itself fixes the length. GOV.UK states, “This length of time (i.e. the ‘term’) should be specified in the contract (i.e. the ‘lease’).” The title register may summarise the date and term, but the lease is the decisive document if there is any doubt. In England and Wales, LEASE also offers a public tool to “check the length of a lease on a property in England and Wales,” but that is an advisory tool rather than a substitute for the lease. There is no general statutory right simply to demand the remaining lease years from the landlord on request, although formal lease-extension procedures can trigger information duties. Lenders set their own minimums: Halifax’s handbook states “Minimum 70 years from the date of mortgage,” which is lending policy, not a legal minimum.

Last reviewed August 2026.

Sources

• GOV.UK, How to read a title register and title plan — “It also includes a description of the property - usually the postal address - and whether it's held for a specific period of time under a lease (leasehold) or owned outright (freehold).” Source
• GOV.UK, Search for property information from HM Land Registry — “You'll need to search different registers if the property is in Scotland or the property is in Northern Ireland.” Source
• GOV.UK, Search for property information from HM Land Registry — “It costs £7 to get a title register or a title plan.” Source
• Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012 — “(a) a qualifying lease becomes the right of ownership of the land in relation to which it is the qualifying lease,” Source
• nidirect, Searching the Land Registry — “It is not possible to do an online search at present.” Source
• nidirect, Searching the Land Registry — “£5.00 for inspection of each folio, map or instrument” Source
• Department of Finance Northern Ireland, Land registers glossary of terms — “Leasehold Folios have an "L" after the number.” Source
• Department of Finance Northern Ireland, Land registers glossary of terms — “Land held forever ("in Fee simple") not restricted to a term of years as in a lease, nor for life.” Source
• Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 Schedule 2 Part I — “(i) on the grant of such an estate, where the term granted exceeds twenty-one years;” Source
• LEASE, Freeholders — “an organisation (for example, a local council, housing association or charitable trust)” Source
• LEASE, Freeholders — “The freeholder owns the land and the building outright, while the landlord is the person you lease the property from.” Source
• Law of Property Act 1925 s.1 — “An estate in fee simple absolute in possession;” Source
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.1 — “that person shall supply the tenant with a written statement of the landlord's name and address within the period of 21 days beginning with the day on which he receives the request.” Source
• SAM Conveyancing, Share of freehold — “This interest is held either directly in personal names (up to a maximum of 4 people) or as a shareholder in a Freehold Management Company (FMC).” Source
• GOV.UK, How to lease — “You should also be able to get a copy of the lease from the Land Registry for a small charge.” Source
• Land Registration Act 2002 s.66 — “Any person may inspect and make copies of, or of any part of—” Source
• HM Land Registry customer help forum — “A copy lease will cost £11 per copy.” Source
• Land Registration Act 2002 s.66 — “(b)any document kept by the registrar which is referred to in the register of title,” Source
• Land Registration Rules 2003 r.136 — “A person may apply for the registrar to designate a relevant document an exempt information document if he claims that the document contains prejudicial information.” Source
• Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 s.9 — “(a) a lease exceeding 20 years, or” Source
• Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 s.1 — “There is to continue to be a public register of rights in land in Scotland (which is to continue to be known as the "Land Register of Scotland").” Source
• GOV.UK, How to lease — “This length of time (i.e. the ‘term’) should be specified in the contract (i.e. the ‘lease’).” Source
• Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 s.12 — “Any notice given by a qualifying tenant under section 11(4) shall, in addition to any other requirement imposed in accordance with that provision, require the recipient to give the tenant—” Source
• Halifax Loans Ltd, UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook — “Minimum 70 years from the date of mortgage.” Source
• LEASE — “Use our tool to check the length of a lease on a property in England and Wales, and get information on whether to extend your lease.” Source