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Land Registry work, from the form to the finished register

Forms, official documents, first registration, corrections and identity checks. Tell us what has changed and we name the application.

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HM Land Registry keeps the register of land ownership for England and Wales, and almost every change to a title, from a sale to a repaid mortgage, is made by an application to it. Property Law Online prepares and lodges those applications, orders the official documents and puts right registers that have gone wrong.

What Land Registry services do we offer?

Four groups. The forms change the register; the documents show what it says; the fixing services deal with registers that are wrong, missing or stuck; and the identity services satisfy the registry that you are who you say.

Land Registry forms

Which Land Registry service do I need?

The difficulty is rarely the boxes on the form. It is knowing which application the registry expects. Two questions narrow it to one.

What do you need to do?
Is the property registered at HM Land Registry?

Answer both and we name the application.

How does a Land Registry application work with us?

  1. Read the register first

    We get the register and plan before anything is drafted, and confirm which application the situation calls for. Sometimes it is not the one you expected. A restriction may need satisfying before the change can go through, or the land may turn out to be unregistered.

    Day 1

  2. Draft the form or order the document

    The transfer, charge, restriction or correction is drafted and sent to you with each panel explained. Where the job is a document order, the official copies are requested the same day. Where a plan is needed, we tell you what the registry will accept.

    Week 1

  3. Signature and evidence

    Execution arranged with independent witnesses, and the evidence assembled: a death certificate, a marriage certificate, a deed poll, a lender's discharge, or the deeds for a first registration. Our clients are covered by our own identity checks; anyone unrepresented needs form ID1 (Practice Guide 67, updated 1 September 2026).

    Week 1 to 2

  4. Lodge with HM Land Registry

    Submitted under a cover AP1 with the fee due under the current fee order, the evidence, and a priority search on OS1 where one protects you. The registry fee is set by government and shown separately in your written quote.

    Week 2

  5. Monitor to completion

    We track the application, answer any requisition ourselves, and send you the updated register once it issues. A requisition is a formal query that pauses everything until answered. It is the main cause of delay, and the reason we check the register before drafting.

    HM Land Registry processing time, which varies by application type and is published on its own processing times page

Which Land Registry form does each situation call for?

Transferring the whole of a title is a TR1. Transferring part is a TP1 and creates a new title. A repaid mortgage is a DS1, a new private loan a CH1, and a restriction goes on with RX1 and comes off with RX3. Almost every one of them is lodged under a cover form AP1 with the deed, the evidence and the fee. Get the cover form wrong and a perfectly drafted deed still stalls.

Two forms have moved to the services they belong with. Removing a deceased joint owner on DJP, and passing an inherited property to a beneficiary on AS1, sit with our property work after a death; we do not obtain grants or administer estates, but we prepare and lodge both forms. Severing a joint tenancy on SEV sits with wills and trusts, because it is usually done alongside a will. They are still Land Registry applications and we still lodge them.

The table matches the common situations to the form and the evidence the registry expects with it.

SituationFormLodged withEvidence needed
Sale, gift or transfer of equity of the wholeTR1AP1Identity evidence, lender consent or DS1, SDLT or LTT certificate where a return is due
Selling or giving part of the landTP1AP1Scaled plan locatable against Ordnance Survey mapping; sketches are rejected
Mortgage repaidDS1 or electronic dischargeAP1 if paperLender's executed discharge
Private loan secured on the propertyCH1AP1Lender identity evidence, any existing lender's consent
Interest to be protectedRX1Nothing elseThe deed or order that creates the interest
Restriction no longer neededRX3Nothing elseEvidence the protected interest has ended
Name changed or entry wrongAP1 (change of name or correction)Nothing elseCertified copy marriage certificate, decree, deed poll or the document showing the true position
Land never registeredFR1DL list of documentsOriginal deeds, plan, and a statutory declaration where deeds are lost
Applying without a conveyancerID1With the applicationVerification by a conveyancer or other approved person (Practice Guide 67, updated 1 September 2026)

Can I deal with HM Land Registry myself?

Legally, yes. The register is open to unrepresented applicants and every form can be downloaded from GOV.UK without charge. A careful person can lodge their own discharge or change of name. The catch is identity. Anyone applying without a conveyancer must have form ID1 completed by a conveyancer or other approved verifier, usually in person (Practice Guide 67, updated 1 September 2026), so the saving is smaller than it looks.

Transfers, first registrations and anything touching a mortgage, a trust or a death are where mistakes cost most and are hardest to unwind. A transfer that omits a declaration of trust, or declares the wrong one, decides what happens on death and divorce for decades; joint tenants or tenants in common explains why. A rejected application means starting again and paying the registry fee twice. Several applications carry no fee at all under Schedule 4 to the Land Registration Fee Order 2024, while transfers and first registrations are charged by value.

Reading the register is the other half of the job. For registered land the register is the definitive record and the old paper deeds have no legal effect, which is why anyone can order it without the owner knowing. Some titles remain unregistered, and for those there is no register to order. HM Land Registry's annual report for 2025 to 2026 records the register as covering more than 90 per cent of the land area of England and Wales, which is a measure of area and not of the number of titles, and no figure is published for the share of titles. Every document we supply comes with a plain-English note on what the entries mean: a Form A restriction that changes what happens on death, a charge repaid but never removed, a covenant against the extension you are planning. If something needs fixing, we say so and quote for it separately.

Frequently asked questions

What is a requisition and how do I avoid one?

A requisition is a formal query raised where an application is incomplete or inconsistent: a fee miscalculated, a plan that cannot be located, a restriction not dealt with, a signature not witnessed. It pauses the application until answered. Most are avoided by checking the register before drafting and lodging complete evidence first time.

How long does HM Land Registry take?

It depends on the application. HM Land Registry published in September 2026, on data from July 2026, that just over thirty per cent of applications to update an existing register are automated and completed within minutes, that it completes half of all first registrations in about eight months and almost all in about twelve, and that half of applications to divide a title or register a new lease take about nine months. HM Land Registry charges no fee for expedition, and will consider it where the delay would cause legal, financial or personal problems unrelated to a land transaction, or would put a property transaction at risk, and it requires supporting evidence and will not expedite an application already in progress. We apply for it where the facts support it. Your ownership is protected from the date the application is received, not from the date it is completed.

Are title deeds and the title register the same thing?

No. For registered land the register is the legal proof of ownership and the paper deeds are history, though still useful for boundary and covenant detail. For unregistered land the paper deeds are the only proof there is, and first registration is how they become a register. If the deeds are lost, title is proved by statutory declaration and other evidence instead.

Is there a Land Registry fee as well as yours?

For some applications, yes. HM Land Registry charges a fee under its fee order, based on the type of application and, for transfers and first registrations, the value of the property. Discharges, home rights, change of name and removing a deceased joint proprietor carry no fee, under Schedule 4 to the Land Registration Fee Order 2024, SI 2024/931, in force 9 December 2024 and still the order in force when checked on 20 September 2026. Both figures are shown before you commit.

What if the other owner will not sign?

It depends on the form. A transfer needs every registered owner's signature. A restriction on RX1 can often be applied for by one party alone. Severance of a joint tenancy needs no agreement at all: a notice served on the other owner is enough. We tell you which category you are in before you instruct.

Can I get the register for a property I do not own?

Yes. The register is public, no consent from the owner is needed, and the owner is not told. This is how buyers check a seller before offering, neighbours check a boundary before a conversation, and executors check what an estate holds before applying for a grant.

What if my purchase was never registered?

It happens, usually because a firm closed or an application stalled on an unanswered requisition. The legal title stays with the seller until registration completes, which surfaces years later when you try to sell or remortgage. We trace what was lodged, reconstruct the missing pieces and lodge a fresh application, with a statutory declaration where evidence has gone.

Does the title plan show the exact boundary?

No. Registry plans show general boundaries only. The precise line is decided by the deeds, historic plans and physical features on the ground, unless a determined boundary has been registered, which is rare. A dispute is rarely settled by the red line alone.

Guides people read before instructing

Sources and further reading

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