Any Way to See How Many People Owned My Home Before Me?

anotheruser

Is there any free way of seeing how many people have lived in or owned my home before me?

I thought we were the 3rd owners but through some investigation work on Zoopla, we might be the 4th or 5th.

Just interested... not life or death :P

AdrianC

Old electoral records, county archive.

moneyistooshorttomention

Have you got the original "old style" Deeds?

I found that out (on both last house and current house) by studying those old style Deeds.

It was actually quite a useful exercise in the event on current house.

csgohan4

you worried the previous owners are buried on site somewhere?

Alderbank

None of the above will tell you everyone who lived there.

Also, before the 1960s few people owned their home so recorded property owners are more likely to be landlords than occupiers.

Street directories were published for towns throughout the 20th century and might tell you the head of the household; electoral rolls will tell you adults (over 18 or 21). From the 1960s onwards telephone directories were also useful. Find all of these in your public reference library.

The Census (taken every 10 years) is the most complete and interesting source of who lived in any house. Unfortunately 1911 is the most recent one available. If your house dates back to Victorian times you will be surprised how many people lived there in those days. It is not uncommon to find 12 or more over three generations living in a tiny terraced house. You will also find lodgers, boarders and servants living in quite modest houses

moneyistooshorttomention

Certainly agree that it's surprising just how many people crammed into a house in times past. I was told on the neighbourhood grapevine that my little starter house (2 bedrooms) and, of course, it would have been smaller than in my era had housed a couple and 7 children at one point.:eek:. I did wonder how on earth they had all crammed in....

My family have been owner-occupiers back to that era at least - so I tend to forget that's not necessarily the case that someone's home has always been an owner-occupier one. However, you never know. My last house was 1880s - but had always been owner-occupied right from the outset (though I don't think most nearby ones had been from what I could make out). In fact I was amused to notice it was basically a single womans house (ie same as myself) for a lot of that time. So you never know...

Hoploz

How old is the house? Sales from 1995 onwards are recorded online on land registry and other sites such as Rightmove or Zoopla.

if you thought you were the 3rd owner presumably the house doesn't date back to Victorian times!

My house has changed hands several times in the last 12 years and I've had odd bits of post for all the separate owners arrive since I bought 2 years ago.

If there have been alterations with planning applications then if you search online you can find documents for these which usually include names of owners. Sometimes even old photos of the house how it looked beforehand as well.

Ask the neighbours?