Can a title plan be updated?

Title plans are prepared using the latest Ordnance Survey map published at the time of first registration and the detailed work necessary to create a new title plan is completed based on information in the deeds and documents supplied.

Generally, once a title plan has been prepared it will not be replaced. For example, we will not update a title plan solely on the basis that later Ordnance Survey information has been made available, or if land has been removed from the title.

The Land Registration Rules 2003 make no provision for the replacement of title plans when the physical layout of the site has changed and, with well over 26 million registered titles in England and Wales, it would not be feasible to replace title plans to reconcile map detail on receipt of every revision of the map details.

Quite apart from the task itself, we no longer have access to the title deeds on which any original mapping decisions were based (the deeds having been returned to the applicants following first registration). It must also be borne in mind that every title boundary has two sides to it, so that any significant mapping changes will have consequences not only for those seeking to have their title plans updated but also their neighbours.

Additionally, as with all maps and plans, even the Ordnance Survey maps are subject to surveying limitations and tolerances. As such, different editions of the map may show the same feature in a slightly different place, without this necessarily having any significance in terms of the movement of physical features on the ground.

In the circumstances we won't routinely update a title plan for the reasons given. 

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