What is a TR1 form?
Form TR1 is the prescribed HM Land Registry form for transferring the whole of a registered title to new owners. It is a deed, not an application: on completion it passes the property in equity, but the legal title moves only when HM Land Registry registers it, which is why the TR1 then goes to the registry: section 27(1) of the Land Registration Act 2002 says that a disposition required to be completed by registration does not operate at law until the registration requirements are met, and a transfer is such a disposition (checked 20 September 2026). "TR1 transfer deed", "land registry TR1 form" and "HM Land Registry form TR1" all mean the same paper.
It is used on a sale, a transfer of equity, a gift, a transfer ordered on divorce and a sale by executors. The reason changes the tax and the lender position, not the form. The deed alone does nothing at the registry: it must be lodged with form AP1, and a TR1 posted by itself comes back.
Where do I get the TR1 form?
Free, from GOV.UK. HM Land Registry publishes the blank form on its own page, registered titles: whole transfer (TR1), as a PDF you can type into or print. There is no charge: a site selling you a TR1 is selling you a free document.
Take it from that page, not from a search result or an emailed copy: the registry revises its forms, and an application on a superseded edition can be requisitioned (checked 19 September 2026). The edition is the date code printed in the form's footer, not the date shown on the publication page around it, which is the date that page was last edited and often differs. Download form AP1 at the same time, plus an identity form for each unrepresented party: form ID1 for an individual, ID2 for a company, or ID3 where the person verifying is not a conveyancer.
How do you fill in a TR1, panel by panel?
The TR1 runs to twelve numbered panels. Most are facts copied off the register; three, consideration at panel 8, title guarantee at panel 9 and the declaration of trust at panel 10, carry consequences that outlast the transaction. The edition in force is that of 29 August 2023 (checked 19 September 2026). Work with the official copy beside you.
| Panel | What it asks for | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| 1, Title number | The title number, exactly as the official copy shows it | A leasehold number used for a freehold transfer |
| 2, Property | Full postal address with postcode, or a description of the land | An address the register never showed |
| 3, Date | The completion date, added after everyone has signed | Dated on the day of signing rather than completion |
| 4, Transferor | Every registered proprietor in full, plus any company number | A married name where the register shows a maiden name; an owner left off |
| 5, Transferee | Everyone taking the property in full; for a company, its number | Initials or nicknames that will not match the ID produced |
| 6, Address for service | Up to three addresses for the new owners, at least one postal | Left blank, so registry post never arrives |
| 7, Transfer | The operative words. Pre-printed, nothing to complete | Crossing words out, making the form non-prescribed |
| 8, Consideration | The price in words and figures, or a statement that nothing of value passes | A buy-out called a gift; mortgage debt the new owner takes on left out, when that is consideration for land tax |
| 9, Title guarantee | Full or limited title guarantee, ticked | Both boxes blank; executors giving full where limited is normal |
| 10, Declaration of trust | With more than one transferee: joint tenants, tenants in common in equal shares, or another trust | Nothing ticked, a cause of requisitions on a joint purchase |
| 11, Additional provisions | Indemnity covenants, declarations, an application for a restriction | The covenant the seller needs omitted; terms belonging in a deed of trust |
| 12, Execution | Each transferor signs as a deed before a witness who prints their full name and address | No witness address; a witness who is a party or a party's spouse |
Who signs a TR1, and who can witness it?
Every transferor signs, every current owner named in the register, or someone legally authorised to sign for them such as an attorney or an executor. If two people own the property, both sign. The transferees do not always sign. They must where panel 10, the declaration of trust, has been completed and there is more than one of them, because HM Land Registry states on the form itself that each transferee must then execute the transfer to satisfy section 53(1)(b) of the Law of Property Act 1925, which requires a declaration of trust of land to be evidenced in writing signed by the person making it. They must also sign where panel 11 contains a covenant they are giving, a declaration by them, or an application by them such as for a restriction (Practice Guide 8, section 11, updated 14 September 2026). Since almost every joint purchase completes panel 10, most TR1s with two buyers need four signatures, not two.
The witness must be physically present when the signature is made, and must not be a party to the deed, which is a rule of law rather than a preference (Seal v Claridge (1881) 7 QBD 516). HM Land Registry says it continues to require that the witness be actually present when the deed is signed, and that a witness attending by video call is not enough. The one relaxation it allows is glass: it says there is no reason why the witness and signatory cannot be separated by glass, so a signature could be witnessed through a car or house window, provided the witness can see clearly the signatory signing (Practice Guide 8, section 2.1.2, updated 14 September 2026). That holds even where the transfer is signed electronically, because both routes HM Land Registry accepts, the Mercury method and a conveyancer-certified electronic signature, still require the witness to be physically present (Practice Guide 82, sections 2.2 and 3.2, updated 15 June 2026). The registry says it is advisable that the witness be no younger than 18, or at least of sufficient maturity, and that they should be independent, so those are strong recommendations rather than hard rules. They then sign and add their full name and address in legible block capitals, complete with the postcode, so the witness can be traced if the signing is ever questioned; an attestation with no witness address is a frequent requisition. Where two people sign, one witness may watch both, but each signature has to be separately attested. A party's spouse is not banned if they are not a party themselves, but the registry says this is best avoided, so we ask you to find someone else. Panel 3 is dated last, on the day the transfer completes.
What do you send with the TR1?
The covering application is form AP1, listing what you want registered and what is enclosed. Where any party is unrepresented, identity evidence is needed: form ID1 for an individual or ID2 for a company, with section B signed by a conveyancer who has met them and seen their documents, or form ID3 where one of six listed non-conveyancer professions verifies them in person. Where the conveyancer does the check by video call, form ID5 goes in as well and replaces section B or C of the ID1 or ID2; ID5 is never lodged on its own. Every ID form has to be signed and dated no more than three months before it is lodged (Practice Guide 67, updated 1 September 2026). Where the transfer is notifiable for land tax the certificate goes in too: the SDLT5 in England, or the Welsh Revenue Authority certificate for Land Transaction Tax in Wales. Consideration is wider than a price, taking on a share of an existing mortgage counts, even though no cash moves. See the Stamp Duty and LTT calculator.
Then the mortgage: a charge repaid on completion needs the lender's discharge, electronic or a paper DS1; a mortgage that stays needs the lender's written consent. Last is the HM Land Registry fee, never a flat amount: it is set by the current fee order on the value or the consideration, under the Land Registration Fee Order 2024, in force since 9 December 2024. The reduced electronic scale reaches a transfer of the whole of a registered title for money, but article 1(2) excludes delivery by email from what counts as electronic. Scales are published at registration services fees. Read the register for restrictions too: whatever they demand must be complied with.
TR1 or TP1, which form do I need?
TR1 for the whole of a registered title, TP1 for part of it. If everything inside the red edging on the title plan is going, it is a TR1; if you keep any of it, it is a TP1, with a plan attached. A TP1 asks for things a TR1 never needs. The plan, new rights of way over the land kept back, and covenants binding each side afterwards. Used where a TP1 was needed, a TR1 does not merely get rejected: it fails to say what the parties meant.
Two other forms sit close by. Where an owner has died and personal representatives are passing the property to a beneficiary rather than selling, the form is an assent, AS1; if they sell, it is a TR1 lodged with the grant. Where the owners are not changing at all and you only want to move from joint tenants to tenants in common, nothing is transferred: that is a severance, form SEV. And the TR1 works only on registered land. Unregistered property is transferred by conveyance, then first registration.