By 
Family law guide
Part of: Financial Settlement after Divorce
Form RX1 is the HM Land Registry application that puts a restriction on a property’s title. After a separation, it can protect your share of the family home even if your name is not on the title.
A restriction does not freeze the home. Instead, it stops HM Land Registry registering certain dealings until someone meets its condition. Which restriction fits depends on how your share arose, and the wrong choice can leave you less protected than you think. This guide covers the law in England and Wales.
Worried your ex could sell or remortgage the home before the two of you settle your share? Book a free initial consultation to talk it through with one of our specialists.
It is HM Land Registry’s application to enter a restriction on a registered title. Once the restriction is on the register, HM Land Registry will not register a transfer, lease, mortgage or similar disposition until someone meets its condition (practice guide 19).
The law sets out who can apply. You can apply if you are the registered owner, if the owner consents, or if you otherwise have a sufficient interest in the entry (Land Registration Act 2002, s.43). After a separation, that last route is the one that matters. Your ex is on the title, you are not, and you believe part of the home is yours.
The entry goes in the proprietorship register, the part of the title that names the owners. So a buyer or a lender who looks at the register will see it before they part with any money.
For a share in the family home, the usual answer is Form A. Form II can sit beside it so that you hear about a sale, while Form B is only for trusts that limit what the owner can do.
| Restriction | What it does | When it fits | HM Land Registry fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form A | Sale or mortgage money must go to two trustees; one owner alone cannot register it without a court order | You have a share under a trust and no Form A entry is on the title yet | No fee |
| Form II | Nothing registers without a certificate that written notice of the dealing went to you | Form A alone is too thin, for example where you claim under a constructive trust | £40 by post, £20 through the portal, for up to three titles |
| Form B | The owners must certify that a dealing follows the document that created the trust | The trust deed itself limits what the owner can do | £40 by post, £20 through the portal |
| Form N | Nothing registers without a named person’s consent | Rarely, unless the owner agrees: it would usually give a beneficiary more than their due | £40 by post, £20 through the portal |
A second Form A cannot go on the title, because the entry protects the trust as a whole rather than one person’s share (practice guide 19, interests under trusts). If you own the home jointly and have just severed a joint tenancy, form SEV puts the same entry on instead. Our guide to joint tenants and tenants in common explains severance.
The fees are from HM Land Registry’s fees guide. Do not confuse this restriction with Form A, the court form that starts a financial order application.
Up to three answers show the entry that would fit your home, the evidence behind it and what happens next. Nothing you choose is saved or sent anywhere.
One entry, three steps
Answer the questions above to see the entry and the route.
How the entry would readWaiting
Your first two answers decide which entry, if any, belongs here.
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Based on the Land Registration Act 2002, ss.43, 45 and 77, and HM Land Registry practice guide 19. Every title and every claim turns on its own facts.
Not on the strength of the marriage alone. HM Land Registry will not proceed with an application that relies only on the marriage or on divorce proceedings. It must also show that you are a beneficiary under a trust and explain how that share arose (practice guide 19, appendix A).
That surprises many spouses, because the divorce court can still order the home transferred whoever owns it. The register works differently. It protects interests that already exist in property law, rather than orders a court may make later. So a spouse who is not on the title usually looks at other entries first:
If you paid towards the home, or the two of you agreed you would share it, you may also have an interest under a trust. Then the route is open to you, married or not. Couples who never married have no home rights at all, so a restriction is often their main protection. Our guide to property claims between unmarried couples covers the claim to the share itself.
It must say what your interest is and how it arose. You set this out in panel 12, or a conveyancer certifies it in panel 13 (HM Land Registry, form RX1).
The Land Registry form RX1 runs to five pages, but panel 12 carries the weight. Without the owner’s consent, you also choose the sufficient interest option in panel 8. HM Land Registry asks you to name the owner rather than call them the registered proprietor. It also wants the documents behind the claim, such as a certified copy of a trust deed or a court order.
However, a share that comes from payments or a shared understanding may have no document at all. The guidance accepts that for a resulting or constructive trust, although your bank records still matter if the owner objects.
Write the statement as though your ex will read it, because they can. The form warns that most documents HM Land Registry keeps are open to public inspection. If part of yours is genuinely prejudicial, form EX1 asks for that part to be kept back. The form also warns that a dishonest statement can amount to fraud.
Unless the owner applied or agreed, HM Land Registry writes to them first. They then have 15 working days to object, and an objection that cannot be resolved by agreement goes to the tribunal (practice guide 19, notifiable applications).
The law builds this step in. The registrar must tell the owner about the application and the right to object, and cannot decide it before the period ends (Land Registration Act 2002, s.45). So your ex will know. There is no quiet version of this application, which is why timing matters when a sale may be close.
Once entered, the restriction stays until someone cancels or withdraws it. It does not drop off by itself, even after a sale. When the financial order is carried out, it usually has to come off, and our guide to removing a restriction and transferring the family home explains how.
Two mistakes come up again and again: expecting Form A to block a sale, and applying without a good basis. Form A does not stop a sale that pays two trustees, and an application made without reasonable cause can lead to a claim against you.
Form A works through trustees and does not name you. Your ex could appoint a second trustee, sell, and pay the money to both of them. That sale overreaches your share, which then attaches to the money rather than the house. Form II does not prevent that either. It does mean you are told, so you have the chance to pursue the proceeds (practice guide 19).
The second risk sits with you. Nobody may apply for a restriction without reasonable cause, and the duty is owed to anyone who suffers damage when it is broken (Land Registration Act 2002, s.77). A restriction that holds up a sale on a weak claim can therefore cost the person who asked for it.
A restriction binds you too. HM Land Registry notes that even a transfer ordered on the breakdown of a marriage may have to comply with one (practice guide 19).
We advised a mother whose former partner was the only owner on the register, although she had paid towards the deposit and, for several years, the mortgage. They had never married, and she had been told a home rights notice would protect her. We helped her set out how her share arose, backed by her bank statements. She then asked for Form II beside Form A so that she would hear of any sale. Every case turns on its own facts.
Get a fresh copy of the title register before you apply, and read the proprietorship register line by line. If a Form A restriction is already there, a second one cannot go on, so your effort belongs in Form II or in the financial case itself. Keep a copy of the form and of every document you send with it, because if your ex objects, that paperwork is where any dispute starts.
Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist
A Form A restriction costs nothing to register, according to HM Land Registry’s fees guide. Other standard restrictions, such as Form II, cost £40 by post or £20 through the portal for up to three titles. A restriction in non-standard wording costs £90 per title by post, or £45 through the portal.
Not on its own. It stops a sole owner registering a sale that raises money. However, a sale by two trustees can still go through, and your share then moves into the sale money. A Form II restriction beside it means written notice of the sale has to go to you first.
Anyone can apply to cancel a restriction on form RX3, with evidence that it is no longer needed, and there is no fee. HM Land Registry usually tells anyone named in the restriction with an address for service. Form A names nobody, while Form II names you. Withdrawing a restriction needs your agreement. Our guide to removing a restriction explains RX3 and RX4.
Conveyancers usually apply through HM Land Registry’s portal. If you apply yourself, you post the form and any fee to HM Land Registry’s standard address for applications. Where no conveyancer acts, every applicant signs the form personally.
Until someone cancels or withdraws it. A restriction does not end by itself after a sale or a divorce. Some standard forms, including Form II, can start with the word “Until” and a date, so that they last only for a set period.
Yes, if you have an interest under a trust of the home. Unmarried partners cannot register home rights, so a Form A restriction, sometimes with Form II beside it, is often the main entry available. Proving the size of the share is a separate claim, usually under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996.
An application for a restriction tends to go wrong in two ways. Someone applies on the strength of the marriage alone and it stalls. Or someone relies on Form A as if it blocked a sale, while the owner appoints a second trustee and sells anyway. Either way, a share you thought was protected becomes a claim against money that has already moved.
A free initial consultation is a conversation with a specialist, who gives you initial advice tailored to your circumstances. It does not include drafting or reviewing documents. If you can, have a copy of the title register and a note of what you paid towards the home to hand.
Book a free initial consultation or call 0330 094 5880.
You can also read our guides to financial settlement after divorce and who gets the house in a divorce.
General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.
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