How to track down the owner of an empty property

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Posted on 18 September 2025

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This blog explores some practical ways of tracking down the owners of those empty buildings you come across, helping you to turn them into your next project or business opportunity.

 

That vacant shop unit on the high street. That abandoned warehouse with development potential. That empty house deteriorating in an otherwise thriving neighbourhood.

Empty properties like these represent missed opportunities across the UK.

Just think, one of those vacant buildings could be your next project, client or business opportunity… if only you could find the owner.

Finding out who controls those dormant assets is a common challenge faced by everyone in the property sector. Estate agents, developers, surveyors, architects, security firms, insurers, planners, and ratings specialists are always looking for empty property owners in need of their services. Yet that vital information is often frustratingly hard to get at.

Why is it so difficult to find out who owns an empty property?

The longer a property stays empty, the harder it becomes to trace the owner.

Unlike occupied properties, where you can see activity or speak with residents, empty buildings provide very few clues as to who is responsible for them.

Some buildings sit empty after being inherited by someone who lives far away, or doesn’t have the time or money to maintain them. Others remain vacant following business failures or stalled development plans. Many empty properties are caught in a legal limbo, during prolonged probate processes or ownership disputes.

While approximately 265,000 long-term empty homes and 165,000 vacant business properties currently exist across the UK, the information about their ownership is scattered across various databases, registers and local communities.

The UK doesn’t have a reliable, up-to-date, centralised empty property register, which makes searching for an absentee owner even more challenging. But it's not impossible.

If you’ve got the inclination, the determination and the time, here are a few of the routes you can try:

 

Land Registry searches

The Land Registry maintains relatively up-to-date records of property ownership in England and Wales, so it's a good starting point if you're trying to trace an owner.

You will need to purchase a copy of the title register for the property to find out who owns it: an electronic copy of this information will cost you just £7. This can be done online through the Land Registry website. A title register typically reveals:

• The registered owner's name
• The registered owner's address (although this may not be current)
• Any lenders with charges over the property
• The purchase price (if purchased after the year 2000)
• Any restrictions affecting the property

This official information is a good solid place to start, but it does have its limitations:

• The registered address might be out of date if the owner hasn't updated their details. Some owners use the addresses of their solicitors or their company-registered offices, rather than revealing their personal contact details. 
• Approximately 14% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered, particularly older properties that haven’t changed hands in decades

If the property is owned by a business, you can use the registered company number to search Companies House for current information, including the registered office address and director details.

 

Local authority searches

Many UK councils maintain several useful databases that can help identify vacant property owners within their local authority areas. Your local authority may be able to share limited information about this, particularly if you’re interested in bringing the property back into use. Although they won’t directly provide personal data, they should be able to help you contact the owners.

Council Tax records contain ownership information for residential properties. While direct access to this data is restricted by GDPR, the council concerned may be able to forward correspondence onto the registered owners on your behalf.

For commercial properties, the council may hold ownership details in their business rates register. Similar privacy restrictions will apply, but again, they may be able to forward correspondence on for you.

Electoral roll data can assist you in your search, particularly if you have a name from the Land Registry but need a current address. The full register is available for inspection at your local authority's offices, although restrictions in usage may apply.

Trying to track down an empty property owner via a local authority can take several weeks, and there's no guarantee that you'll be successful. However, it can help you to fill in any information gaps once you've carried out your Land Registry search.

 

Other search methods

Local knowledge is often a great source of information that might not be available through official channels.

Neighbouring business owners or residents might be aware of the empty property’s history and might also possess contact information for the owners or their representatives.

Local community groups, parish councils or neighbourhood associations often know about empty properties in their area and may even have attempted to contact the owners.

Online property search platforms, such as Property Checker, Property Registry and Landhawk, can all help you to find, assess and value land and vacant properties that are for sale. These services use proprietary databases and research methods to locate empty property owners, although success is not automatically guaranteed. These services don't come free either. You usually have to pay a monthly subscription or a one-off search fee. You can, however, obtain a 60 day free trial with Land Hawk once you've subscribed to receive details of empty properties.

 

How can Land Attic help?

Land Attic offers an alternative to these time-consuming approaches. We’ve created Britain’s most comprehensive empty property database.

Our platform’s nationwide community of contributors, our ‘Land Heroes’, identify and submit details about empty properties across the UK. We match those properties with interested parties based on their specific requirements, be they developers, investors, architects, surveyors, insurers or estate agents.

Our collaborative, tech-driven approach means that many empty properties appear on Land Attic before they’re listed elsewhere, providing subscribers with early access to those opportunities.

While Land Attic doesn’t automatically provide ownership details for every property listed, our platform facilitates contact wherever possible, opening up access to those empty properties for the people who can bring them back into productive use.

Register today to start receiving empty property opportunities from your area directly to your inbox.

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