Title plan
The title plan is the HM Land Registry map showing the extent of a registered property, edged in red. It shows a general boundary, not a precise legally determined line.
Russ
HMLR Case Specialist
People buy title plans expecting them to settle an argument about a fence. Usually they narrow it rather than settle it, but they are still the single most useful document in any boundary question.
How to read it
Red edging: The extent of the registered title.
Brown or blue tinting: Usually land subject to, or benefiting from, a right of way.
T-marks: Shown where the lease or transfer allocates responsibility for a boundary feature.
Ordnance Survey base: The plan sits on OS mapping, so it reflects physical features as surveyed, not as legally agreed.
The general boundaries rule
Under section 60 of the Land Registration Act 2002, registered boundaries are general. The red line shows roughly where the boundary runs, not its exact position to the centimetre. Where precision matters, a determined boundary application supported by a surveyor's plan is the route.
What the plan does prove
- 1
Roughly which land is included in the title
- 2
Whether a garage, strip or garden is inside or outside
- 3
Where rights of way are tinted or hatched
- 4
That two titles do not overlap
- 5
A starting point any surveyor or court will work from
What it does not prove
- 1
The exact position of a boundary line
- 2
Who owns a particular fence, wall or hedge
- 3
Where a fence has moved over the years
- 4
Rights acquired by long use rather than by deed
- 5
Anything about the condition or extent of buildings
Resolving a boundary question properly
- 1
Get both title plans
Yours and your neighbour's. Overlaps and gaps are often obvious once the two are read together.
- 2
Read the original transfer
The deed that first split the plots usually contains the detailed plan and any T-marks allocating responsibility.
- 3
Look at the physical evidence
Old photographs, historic OS mapping and the position of original features carry real weight.
- 4
Talk before you litigate
A boundary agreement recorded in writing and noted on both registers is cheap. A dispute is not.
- 5
Determined boundary application
Where precision genuinely matters, a surveyor's plan and an application to HM Land Registry fixes the line exactly.