Landowners urged to review registration status as 10% of land remains unregistered
21st February 2026
With succession planning becoming an increasing priority for farming families, landowners are being encouraged to review whether their property is formally registered. Recent findings from HM Land Registry reveal that around 10% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered.
The process of registering land is complex and so is typically carried out by a solicitor, but there are important steps in the process where the services of a rural chartered surveyor are also required.
Historically, many businesses will have relied on historic deeds and other records to prove land ownership.
However, since the 1990s most land and property must be registered with HM Land Registry when it is either sold, gifted, inherited or mortgaged.
Succession planning activities which involve a change in ownership will therefore be an automatic trigger for a first registration.
Registering land voluntarily can also be beneficial, as it provides proof of ownership, which should make the process of administering a landowner’s estate much easier on their death, experts at Strutt and Parker explained.
Failure to register land effectively shifts responsibility for proving ownership to the executors of an estate, which can be stressful, time-consuming and costly at what is already a difficult time.
More generally, leaving land unregistered can also lead to delays if you are planning to sell.
First-time registration
According to HM Land Registry’s own statistics from December 2025, only 26.5% of requests for complex changes and new entries to the register were completed in under six months, whereas 60% of changes to existing registered titles were completed in three months or less.
“A further risk to landowners of leaving their property unregistered is the potential of falling victim to property fraud, for example, adverse possession claims or boundary disputes.
“First-time registration often benefits from input from a qualified valuer in terms of providing a market valuation and assisting in the preparation of an accurate map or plan of the land.
“If you would like help identifying if all or any of your land or estate is registered, subsequently mapping and valuing ahead of making an application for first registration, please contact Tom Pullin at Strutt and Parker,” a spokesperson for the estate agency concluded.
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