How Old Is My House and How Do I Find It?

Most homeowners are not much aware of the history of their property. Whatever details the last set of homeowners provide us we settle for that. But if you are wondering when was my house built, there are ways to find out. It is useful to be aware of the age of the house as your building insurance application will ask for it. Here are the ways to find out how exactly old is your house.

Pay a visit to Tax Assessor

Tax records are your best bet to find out when was your house built. If the records are conscientiously maintained there will be details of every owner of the land on which your home is built. Important information you will find in the tax records is the year to year assessed property value. If you notice a sudden jump in the valuation, it suggests completion of a renovation or substantial addition made or a new home was constructed. All of this information when reviewed against additional research data, can help you find out the age of your home accurately.

HM Land Registry

HM land registry must be your first point of contact for uncovering the details of your property and its history. The HM Land Registry is the official body that registers all land ownerships in England and Wales. In the records here, you will find information about the landowners rather than the building on it. That being said, the HM Land Registry holds the details of developers who leased or bought the land. Therefore, from the date of the first transfer of the land, the approximate age of house can be gleaned. If the house you bought is not from the developer who built it then HM Land Registry won’t be of much help.

Look at your deeds

As you will not be able to find the information about the building with the land registry, another good place to look for the age of house is the title deeds. With the dates mentioned in the deeds, you might be able to make an educated guess to ‘how old is my house’. If for some reason you do not have the deeds of your house, you can always ask for a copy from the Housing and Local services. You can visit them here and follow the steps. All you have to do is to find if the land or property is registered. From the title register find the property’s title number. Fill in the deed request form. That’s it. Although, there are chances that deed won’t have any information regarding the age of house.

Just ask around

It is plausible that the answer to ‘when was my house built’ can be answered by someone who had the same question in the past. Your neighbours are the people you need to talk to about the age of the properties in the area or street. They might have researched before buying their property or their deeds are more detailed than yours. Either way, there is no harm in asking as it will be much more convenient and time saving then digging the dirt on your own.

Another person who might have the information is your seller or agent. The property information form that agents fill before putting out their home on the market has a column for the age of the property. They must fill in the information before putting the property on sale.

Examine the architecture

A quick way to find out how old is my house is to conduct an architectural survey of the property. The materials used, make of windows, doors and skirting boards can provide you with an approximation of the age of the house. If the design of the interiors seems out of fashion then you will know you are looking at something vintage. However, this sort of analysis will only give you a vague idea about when was your house built. Given the fact that certain aspects of the property might have been replaced by previous owners, so do not depend on the aesthetics as concrete proof of the age of the house.

It is not easy to determine exactly how old is your house, but with enough research, you can narrow it down. We have shared the ways to find the age of your house, good luck carbon dating your home!