Series details: CRDA/49

The Deeds Registry Application dataset transferred to NDAD by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) was used by the Deeds Office of the Property Advisers to the Civil Estate (PACE) to record details of title deeds relating to the Common User Estate. This was largely property that provided general office accommodation which could be used by any government department. The data relating to these deeds was held as a component of PACE's main PISCES database. The Deeds Registry Application, which was developed for the sole use of the PACE Deeds Office, noted the movement of deeds, ie as loans, transfers etc. A comprehensive search facilty built in to the application enabled searches by property number, deed number, property name, road name, town, county and deed date.

The application was developed in 1997 by PACE's in-house IT team, and replaced the PHOENIX database then in use. The Deeds Office had traditionally used a manual system of recording information about deeds and gradually transferred details of those records relating to current properties to the PISCES database. The manual recording system was retained for historic and some other properties whose details were not recorded on the PISCES system. These included properties held in the Departmental Estate (properties peculiar to a particular department, ie courts, barracks, cold stores etc.). The manual records were annotated to record that the deeds had been listed on the PISCES system and the property number was noted on the sheet.1

The Deeds Registry Application and its predecessor the PHOENIX system were developed for use within the Deeds Office of the Property Advisers to the Civil Estate (PACE). The Deeds Office closed in 2001 and PACE subsequently became a part of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).2

OGC was created in 1999 as an amalgamation of several separate executive agencies. PACE was one of the organisations incorporated into OGC, PACE's successor body within OGC is called the Property and Construction Directorate . This dataset represents information created and captured by the PACE prior to the incorporation of this body's work into OGC.3 See the administrative history of the Environment departments for further information on OGC and PACE.

This dataset consists of 3 tables containing data derived from the Deeds Registry Application, extracted from the master Civil Estate database PISCES by the Office of Government Commerce.

The deeds recorded in the system relate to the Common User Estate (general office accommodation available to any department). The Deeds Registry Application is used to record new deeds, change existing deed details, and record the movements of deeds (for example, loans or transfers).

The data includes deed details, such as the date and type of deed and information about the parties to the deed; details of properties to which the deeds relate; and details of holdings associated with a property, including tenure data, holding owners, and dates of acquisition.

The Deeds Registry Appliocation dataset and related dataset documentation was selected for preservation by the National Archives as a single transfer at the end of use of the application following the closure of the PACE Deeds Office. It was selected under themes 2.2.1.6 and 2.2.2.2 National Archives' Acquisition Policy Statement.4

As the dataset held by NDAD consists of data created by the PACE Deeds Office prior to its incorporation into OGC (see Statement of Responsibility ), there will be no further transfers of data in the present format. A new OGC daatabase will be created to manage property records created or transferred after the incorporation of PACE within OGC. This may be considered for transfer to NDAD under a new series at a later stage.

The Deeds Registry Application and its related dataset documentation are public records under the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967. The National Archives has assigned the dataset and documents the series reference WORK 88.

A susbset of records in the dataset relating to one property is closed until 2022, see the Dataset catalogue for further information. The remainder of the data from the Deeds Registry Application and its related dataset documentation is open to users of NDAD.

Data from the Deeds Registry Application and its related dataset documentation are subject to Crown Copyright. Copies may be made for private study and research purposes only.

The Deeds Registry Application dataset is subject to the Data Protection Act. Subject access to the data is permitted.

The language of the materials is English.

A number of items of dataset documentation have been transferred to NDAD, further details are available in the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.

The Deeds Registry Application was run on networked PCs within the PACE Deeds Office. Other departments within PACE were given read-only access to the system.

The Deeds Registry Application was run under Windows NT (version not known).

The Deeds Registry Application was developed using SQL Server and Visual Basic and formed part of the main PACE database known as PISCES. The system was originally developed as a Microsoft Access 2.0 database. 5

The user interface for the Deeds Registry Application consisted of a series of on screen forms, examples of which can be seen by referring to the Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/49/DD/3/2-7. An overview of the system which describes the process of entering a new deed can also be consulted (reference CRDA/49/DD/3/1).

The dataset comprises 3 tables: "Deed", "Property" and "Holding" sharing the same key field (pace_property_no). A one to one relationship exists between the tables Deed and Property and a one to many relationship exists between the tables Property and Holding. For a more detailed description of the tables and the fields contained within them see the Dataset catalogue.

The dataset is dynamic in the sense that once input the details of the deeds recorded in the system could be amended. The sytem was also used to record the movements of deeds (for example, loans and transfers).

Data was input directly from the deeds or from other manual records of the deeds held by the department. Checks were carried out on a regular basis to validate the data by line managers responsible for the Deeds Office.6

Details of the content and transformation validation checks performed by NDAD staff on the Deeds Registry Application dataset are contained in the dataset catalogue: see Links to dataset catalogues.

Dataset catalogues provide more detailed information about individual datasets, and are currently available for the following dataset(s):

1. The National Archives online catalogue, PROCAT, entry for WORK 88 consulted on 10 September 2003; Dataset Documentation catalogue, reference CRDA/49/DD/1/1, Deeds Application on Pisces

2. Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/49/DD/1/1, Deeds Application on PISCES

3. Information supplied in emails between TNA and NDAD on 8 April 2002.

4. Information provided by TNA and OGC from the NDAD dataset transfer form.

5. Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/49/DD/2/1, Deeds Registry Specification revision 1.0.

6. Information supplied by the OGC on the NDAD Dataset transfer form.