How do I correct a mistake on the title register?
On form AP1, the general application to change the register, with the documents proving what the entry should say. There is no separate corrections form. What differs from a change of name is the evidence: nothing has happened to you, so there is no certificate of an event. You produce documents showing what the true position has always been. A passport or birth certificate for a misspelt name. The filed conveyance or transfer for a plan that stops short of the garage. An out-of-date address for service is not corrected on AP1 at all: an owner applying themselves uses form COG1, and a conveyancer lodges a change of address for service transaction.
The registry corrects its own typing readily. Steven registered as Stephen, a middle name dropped, a postcode transposed: these are alterations of the register to correct a mistake, and they prejudice nobody. Where the transfer you were registered under carries the same error, expect a question about how it arose, because the registry is entitled to know whether it is fixing its own slip or recording a different person.
The AP1 costs nothing to download. A correction of the registry's own mistake is an alteration of the register, and the Land Registration Fee Order 2024 (in force from 9 December 2024) charges for one: no paragraph of its Schedule 4 exempts an alteration merely because the error was HM Land Registry's. What answers for it is practice rather than the Order. Practice Guide 39 section 2.1, updated 1 June 2026, says the fee will in many cases be refunded where HM Land Registry caused the error, and that in appropriate cases an initial fee will not be insisted on. Neither is a promise, so budget for the fee. Checked 20 September 2026. Whether identity evidence is needed turns on which application this is. An alteration of the register to correct a registry error is not on the list in Practice Guide 67 of applications that call for it as a matter of course, so it is usually not asked for, though the registrar can still require it in a particular case under rule 17 of the Land Registration Rules 2003. A change of name lodged on its own is on that list, and there evidence of identity on form ID1, or form ID3 where the verifier is not a conveyancer, goes in with the application (updated 1 September 2026, checked 20 September 2026). Our ID1 form page explains what that involves.
| AP1 panel | What it asks for | Common mistakes |
|---|---|---|
| Panel 2, title numbers | The title number, or every title number affected | Correcting the house and leaving the same error on the garage title |
| Panel 4, application, priority and fees | What you are applying for: "alteration of the register to correct a mistake" | Describing a misspelling as a change of name, which brings a request for a certificate that does not exist |
| Panel 5, documents lodged | The documents lodged | Sending a plain photocopy of the passport with no certificate that it is a true copy |
| Panel 6, the applicant | The applicant, as the register should show them | Giving the wrong version of the name, so the correction repeats the error |
| Panel 9, addresses for service | Address for service | Leaving the address the registry already has wrong |
| Panels 12 to 14, confirmation of identity | Evidence of identity where no conveyancer acts and the application needs it | Omitted; the application waits on a requisition (Practice Guide 67, updated 1 September 2026) |
| Panel 15, signature | Signature | Unsigned, or signed by one joint owner where both must sign |
What is the difference between alteration and rectification?
Both change the register under Schedule 4 to the Land Registration Act 2002. Alteration is the general power: the registrar or the court may alter the register to correct a mistake, bring it up to date, or give effect to a right or interest excepted from the effect of registration, and the registrar has a fourth ground the court does not have, removing a superfluous entry (Schedule 4 paragraphs 2 and 5, checked 20 September 2026). Fixing your own surname is an alteration. So is removing a mortgage that was discharged years ago, or noting a right of way the registry left off on first registration where nobody disputes it.
Rectification is the narrower case. An alteration that corrects a mistake and prejudicially affects the title of a registered proprietor is rectification, and it comes with protection for the person losing out. Where that proprietor is in possession, the register cannot be rectified against them without their consent unless they caused or substantially contributed to the mistake by fraud or lack of proper care, or it would for any other reason be unjust not to rectify (paragraphs 3(2) and 6(2) of Schedule 4, checked 20 September 2026). Where the power exists, the alteration must be made unless there are exceptional circumstances that justify not making it. Someone who suffers loss by rectification, or by a refusal to rectify, has a right to indemnity from HM Land Registry under Schedule 8, reduced or lost to the extent the loss is their own fault.
The line between the two is the line between our work and a litigator's. Correcting an uncontested mistake with the evidence is registry work, and we do it. Removing an owner who should never have been registered, or adding back land that a neighbour's title now covers, is rectification. It is usually contested, and where it is disputed it goes to the Land Registration Division of the First-tier Tribunal or the court. We read the register, tell you which you have, and refer you to a litigation solicitor where the correction will be opposed. We do not run the dispute.
| The error | Alteration or rectification? | Evidence, and who can do it |
|---|---|---|
| Name misspelt or incomplete | Alteration | Passport or birth certificate; us, or you with ID1 |
| Address for service out of date | Not an alteration. Form COG1 if you are applying yourself, or a change of address for service transaction if a conveyancer lodges it | No fee. gov.uk says in terms not to use form AP1 for an address only change |
| Repaid mortgage still shown | Alteration | Lender's discharge or form DS1; us |
| Plan omits part of your garden that your deed includes | Alteration if no other title covers it; rectification if a neighbour's does | Filed deed and plan; us for the uncontested case, a litigator if opposed |
| A right of way missing from the register | Alteration where the burdened owner agrees | The deed granting it; us, with the other owner's consent |
| Wrong person registered as owner | Rectification | The court or tribunal; a litigation solicitor |
| A restriction or notice that should not be there | Alteration, by cancellation or withdrawal | Application on the relevant form; see remove a restriction |
What if the title plan is wrong?
This is the error the register is least able to fix. The plan shows a general boundary under section 60 of the Land Registration Act 2002, so a red edge that runs a foot inside your fence is not, on its own, a mistake (section 60 of the Land Registration Act 2002). It is the general boundaries rule doing what it is meant to. The title plan page explains why.
A plan is wrong in the Schedule 4 sense when the registered extent does not match what the deeds transferred: the registry omitted a strip the conveyance included, or drew the edge along the wrong feature. Where no other title covers the land, the correction is an alteration supported by the filed deed and, often, a surveyor's plan. Where the land now sits inside a neighbour's title, correcting your plan means taking land out of theirs, which is rectification against them, and the possession protection above applies. Before any of that, read both plans and the deeds together. Where the question is really where the line runs rather than what the register says, the answer is a boundary determination or a boundary agreement, not a correction.
Can I correct the register myself?
For the routine alterations, yes. One form, the evidence, and identity verification if no conveyancer acts. The table shows where the work sits and where we add something.
What sends people to us is usually not the form but the reading. Whether the entry is a mistake at all, whether fixing it touches anyone else's title, and whether the evidence you hold is the evidence the registry will accept. A wrong answer to any of those costs a requisition at best and a refused application at worst. Where the correction rides alongside a sale or remortgage it belongs inside that transaction, lodged by whoever is running it, and our selling service does it as a matter of course.
| Step | Doing it yourself | If we do it |
|---|---|---|
| Reading the register | Order a copy online and work out what is wrong | Official copies and any filed deed in hand; the error classified as alteration or rectification |
| Evidence | Find a certifier the registry accepts, or risk posting an original | Certified by us; originals never leave you |
| Identity | Needed for a change of name lodged on its own, on ID1 in person or ID3 where a listed non-conveyancer verifies; not on the Practice Guide 67 list for a general alteration | Covered by our own verification: ID and AML checks |
| The AP1 | No charge from GOV.UK; describe the application correctly or it is misrouted | Completed and lodged electronically through the HM Land Registry portal |
| Other owners affected | You approach the neighbour or lender yourself | Consents sought and drafted where the correction touches another title |
| Requisitions | Answered by you within the registry's deadline | Answered by us, with the updated register sent on |
| A contested case | Tribunal or court, on your own | Referred to a litigation solicitor with the title already analysed |
What happens if the correction is opposed?
On a change of name the letter that usually goes out is a fraud check addressed to you: HM Land Registry writes to the registered proprietor at the address held in the register to confirm the application is genuine, and cannot complete it until that notice period has passed or the notice is signed and returned (GOV.UK guidance on changing your name in the register, updated 23 December 2025). It is worth making sure the address for service in the register is current before applying, because that is where the letter goes. Separately, where an alteration would affect someone else's registered estate, registered charge or interest protected by a notice, the registrar gives that person notice under rule 128 of the Land Registration Rules 2003 unless satisfied it is unnecessary, and the application has to be supported by evidence justifying the alteration under rule 129. Anyone may object under section 73 of the Land Registration Act 2002, in writing and stating their grounds. An objection the registrar is not satisfied is groundless, and which cannot be disposed of by agreement, must be referred to the Land Registration division of the Property Chamber, First-tier Tribunal, which hears evidence and decides what should happen to the application. Its decisions are appealable to the Upper Tribunal (checked 20 September 2026).
From the moment an objection is lodged, the matter is a dispute, and the rules of our regulator confine us to non-contentious work. We hand over a file with the register read, the deeds in hand and the mistake identified, which shortens the litigator's job and your bill. Where the dispute is really about where a boundary runs, the boundary disputes guide sets out the routes and what each one costs in time.