Conveyancing research is carried out via the Cadastre (which has an online service) and by (often painstaking) manual research at the Greffe. 

CADASTRE

The cadastre maintains the only complete register of ownership in Guernsey, with records dating back to 1912.  Since the formation of the Guernsey Cadastre in 1910, a register has been kept of property ownership consisting of record ledgers and advocates' "notification of change of ownership" letters and, although many records were damaged or destroyed during the German occupation of the Channel Islands, the Cadastre Register is still the only one of its type in Guernsey.
In 2007, the Cadastre began a project to digitally scan their paper records and link the images to database records. This was completed in 2010 and the register now serves as a live digital database, supporting numerous States departments, Parish Constables, Guernsey Water and a user-base of online subscribers like Trinity Chambers LLP.

THE GREFFE

We were afforded unprecedented access to the Greffe to enable us to give you an insight into where our Conveyancing Executives do their research (see the scrolling photos below).  Researching the title to your new property is a crucial part of our service and, as you can see in the photos below, there are many a ledgers and indexes to check to uncover the answers to questions we have about proving good title to the property.

The Greffe maintains all judicial and legislative records. The current official and deposited conveyancing records include some 2,700 manuscript volumes, more than 100,000 individual conveyancing documents and 16,900 plans. The entirety of the records held at the Greffe occupy some 800 metres of shelf space!

The archives in the Strongroom contain the following:-

  • The Royal Charters of Guernsey granted to the Bailiwick between the 1300s and 1600s;

  • Judicial records of the Royal Court of Guernsey from 1526 onwards;

  • Legislative records from 1553 onwards;

  • Royal Court letter books from 1737 onwards;

  • Records of property conveyances from 1567 onwards;

  • Records of the Assembly of the States of Guernsey from 1605 onwards;

  • Registers of births, marriages and deaths from 1840 onwards;

  • Wills of realty from 1840 onwards; and

  • Wills of personalty.


The Greffe Strong Room and its fantastic collection of local records. Images courtesy of sarniaphotography