Every registered property or piece of land in the Republic of Ireland has a folio. The folio is the official record of who owns the property, held on the national land register maintained by Tailte Éireann, the state body that took over the work of the Property Registration Authority.
What a folio contains
A folio is divided into three parts. Part 1 describes the property itself, with a reference to the registry map showing its boundaries. Part 2 records the registered owner or owners. Part 3 lists the burdens, which are the rights and restrictions affecting the property, such as mortgages, rights of way or conditions attached to the land.
Because the folio is the register, it is conclusive evidence of ownership. If you want to know who owns a property in Ireland, the folio is the document that answers the question.
How folio numbers are formatted
A folio number usually looks something like DN12345F or CK9876L. The first letters identify the county register, the digits identify the individual folio, and a letter at the end often indicates the type of title, with F commonly used for freehold and L for leasehold. Older folios can carry different formats, so do not worry if a number you have seen does not match this pattern exactly.
Do you need the folio number to order documents?
No. The folio number makes an order faster to process, but if you do not have it, the property can be located from its address or Eircode instead. Our order form accepts either.
Registered and unregistered property
Most land in Ireland is now registered, but some older urban properties still sit on the separate Registry of Deeds system, which records documents rather than ownership. If a property is unregistered, it will not have a folio. This mostly affects older properties in Dublin, Cork and other cities that have not changed hands in many years.