Conveyancing pack: copies of the lease, transfer and charge documents referred to in the register

A conveyancing pack contains official copies of the deeds and documents that the register for one title refers to and that the registry holds as scanned copies. The register is a summary. Where an entry says a conveyance “contains restrictive covenants” or a lease “prohibits or restricts alienation”, the full wording lives in the filed document, not in the register.

Every registered title in England and Wales has a title number, such as SYK123456, and a register in up to three parts. How to read those parts entry by entry is explained on the title register page.

The register tells you which documents can be copied by adding a note to the entry. The register’s published guidance says that where a document has been kept on file and is available as an official copy, a note is added saying “Copy filed” or words to that effect. Where there is no such note, a copy is unlikely to be available, and the register sometimes says that a document was not retained.

This is how a charges register entry pointing to a filed transfer reads on an illustrative title such as LA135790, for 9 Beech Avenue, an invented 1990s estate house in Chorley:

2 (14.03.1996) A Transfer of the land in this title dated 28 February 1996 made between (1) Ashdown Homes Limited and (2) Peter John Marsh contains restrictive covenants.
NOTE: Copy filed.

The date in brackets is the date the entry was made in the register. The entry gives the date of the deed, the parties and the fact that covenants exist. It does not set the covenants out: the filed transfer is the document that says whether Mr Marsh, and every owner after him, may build an extension, park a caravan or run a business from home.

A filed copy is sometimes held under a different title number. A flat’s register may say “NOTE: Copy lease filed under TGL987654”, meaning the copy is held under another title, often the building’s freehold title. We follow that cross-reference when we order.

You will get an official copy of every document the register refers to with a filed note, for the title you order, as PDF files. Each PDF carries the registry’s lead page, which forms part of the official copy; copies of documents are not dated, because a registered document is not normally altered. We check each document against the address you supplied before we send it.

You will not get original pre-registration deeds. The deeds lodged on first registration were returned to the applicant once registration was complete, so a 1930s conveyance for a house first registered in 1998 is on file only where the registry kept a copy and noted it. Where old deeds might be now is explained on the title deeds page.

You will not get a document the register refers to without a filed note. Without that note a copy is unlikely to be available, and the original may be with a solicitor, a lender or the owner. If the register refers to no filed documents at all, we tell you rather than send an empty pack.

An official copy of a lease shows the whole lease as it was lodged for registration: the front page, the operative clauses, the schedules and the lease plan, with the registry’s lead page in front.

The leasehold register gives only enough detail to identify the lease, in three fields, “Date: 3 May 2004”, “Term: 125 years from 25 March 2003” and “Parties: (1) Riverside Court Management Limited (2) Susan Ann Cole”. As at September 2026 the property register no longer includes any reference to the rent payable under a lease, so the ground rent and service charge terms are found only in the lease itself.

Read the lease in this order:

1. Date and term. The term often runs from a date earlier than the lease, for example “125 years from 25 March 2003” in a lease dated 3 May 2004. Years remaining count from the term start date.
2. Parties. The landlord, the tenant and, on many estates, a management company that takes the service charge covenants.
3. Demise and plan. What the lease includes (the flat, a balcony, a parking space) and whether windows and walls are yours to repair.
4. Rent clauses. The ground rent, how often it is paid and how it is reviewed: fixed, stepped, doubling or index-linked.
5. Service charge. The tenant’s proportion, what the landlord can recover and whether there is a reserve fund.
6. Tenant’s covenants. Alterations, subletting, pets, use as a single private dwelling.
7. Landlord’s covenants. Insurance of the building and repair of the structure and common parts.
8. Forfeiture. The landlord’s right to re-enter and end the lease if covenants are broken, subject to the legal protections a leaseholder has.

Buyers and lenders want the lease for the same reason: the register says the lease exists, and only the lease says what it costs to hold and what the leaseholder may do.

A filed transfer of part from a developer usually holds three schedules and a plan: rights granted to the plot (a right of way over the estate roads, a right to use the drains), rights reserved to the developer (to enter and lay services) and restrictive covenants (one dwelling only, no caravans). The deed plan colours those areas, for example a brown strip for a shared path, and the schedules refer to them by colour.

The property register carries an entry such as “The land has the benefit of the rights granted by but is subject to the rights reserved by the Transfer dated 28 February 1996 referred to in the Charges Register”, and the charges register carries the covenant entry with its filed note. Since 15 September 2025 the registry has used a shorter formula for new entries of this kind: “The title includes any legal easements granted by the Transfer dated …”.

Positive covenants, such as paying towards a private road, do not appear as burdens in the charges register. The proprietorship register shows only that the current owner gave an indemnity, in an entry such as “Transfer contains covenant regarding Charges Register obligations”. The filed transfer shows the positive covenant itself.

A conveyance made before first registration reads differently: longer recitals, a parcels clause describing the land in words, and often a hand-drawn plan with T marks. How T marks and coloured edgings appear on the registered title plan is covered on the title plan page.

In each of these situations the register names the deed, and only the deed answers the question.

Extending the lease of a flat

Flat 3, 22 Wharf Road, an invented purpose-built block in Leeds, is held on a lease granted in 1991 for 99 years. The register names the lease’s date and term; it does not say what the ground rent is or whether the demise includes the parking space. A valuer and a solicitor both start from the lease, so order the pack for the leasehold title with the register alongside it.

A covenant dispute with a neighbour

The owner of 9 Beech Avenue, the invented estate house in Chorley, sees a neighbour on the same estate building a large workshop, and both titles carry an entry of the same kind: a transfer from Ashdown Homes Limited “contains restrictive covenants”, copy filed. The filed transfer shows the wording of the covenant, whether the developer’s consent was required for outbuildings, and which land has the benefit, typically the developer’s retained land and the other plots on the estate. Covenants sit on the burdened title, so order the pack for the neighbour’s title number.

A right of way over a shared track

A converted barn and the farmhouse next door share a track, and the barn’s register says the land has the benefit of rights granted by a Deed of Grant dated 13 September 1987, with a filed note. The title plan shows the extent of the barn’s land and may not show the route of the right. The deed of grant shows the route on its plan, whether the right is on foot or with vehicles, and who pays for repairs.

A conveyancing pack from UK Land Registry Online is not the contract pack (also called the sale pack) that a seller’s conveyancer sends to a buyer’s conveyancer. That pack is built around the draft contract and usually holds official copies of the register and plan, the seller’s replies on the property information form and the fittings and contents form, and copies of guarantees. Our pack holds the registry’s filed documents only, and you can order it before you make an offer.

We search by address or title number, never by owner name. On the order form you give the property address (postcode lookup or manual entry), the tenure if you know it, the title number if you have it, and an email address. For a flat, give the flat number, because the pack is ordered against the leasehold title for that flat; the full process is explained under how ordering works.