The Land Registry and Ordnance Survey are working in very close partnership with each other. By using the Ordnance Survey data it is allowing us to cross-reference and associate our geography with theirs; it also forms the basis of all of our Land Registry title plans.
Because the two organisations are so closely linked, their individual responsibilities are not always clear. The following explains the position.
Land Registry
Land Registry title plans identify the general position of the boundaries of a registered title. The word “boundary” has no special meaning in law but in land ownership it is understood in two ways:
The Physical Boundary:
A registered title rarely, if ever, shows ownership of individual boundary structures such as walls, fences and hedges. There may be some relevant information on the register or in our files. For example, we may have kept a copy of a deed that refers to a boundary declaration or agreement, or to the ownership and maintenance of boundaries. However, deeds rarely deal with such matters and if ownership or maintenance is important to you, you may, for example, need to ask neighbours and/or previous owners.
The Legal Boundary:
A legal boundary deals with separating ownership of land. It is an invisible line dividing one person’s land from another’s. It does not have thickness or width and usually, but not always, falls somewhere in or along a physical boundary feature such as a wall, fence or hedge. The exact positions of the legal boundaries are almost never shown on registered title plans.
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The role is to deliver and maintain a complete, fully integrated referencing system for geographic information in Great Britain. This is now known as OS MasterMapTM,, and this definitive digital map database allows others to associate their own geography to a consistent base.
The topographic element of OS MasterMap represents the real world picture of the both the built environment and natural features where features such as fences, hedges, houses, factories, roads, rivers, etc. are shown; as well as landscape features such as slopes, cliffs, woodland and vegetation. Administrative and parliamentary boundaries are also depicted.
These features are maintained to an accuracy that relates to the type of landscape being mapped, that is urban, rural, and mountain and moorland areas.
For more information on the work of Ordnance Survey and the specifications used, please click here (www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk).
Alternatively, you can e-mail them at enquiries@ordnancesurvey.co.uk, call their helpline on 08456 05 05 05, or write to them at:
Customer Contact Centre
Room CO15
Ordnance Survey
Romsey Road
Maybush
Southampton
SO16 4GU | 
