Form TR1: Transferring the Family Home in a Divorce
Part of: Financial Settlement after Divorce
Form TR1 is HM Land Registry’s transfer of the whole of a registered title: the deed that actually moves a home out of one name and into another. A financial order can say the house is yours. Until someone signs that transfer and HM Land Registry records it, the change does not work at law, and the register still names the old owner (Land Registration Act 2002, s.27(1)). That gap is where separating couples lose months. Our financial settlement after divorce specialists assist and advise at every stage.
This guide covers England and Wales. It explains what the form does and where families come unstuck; it is not a line-by-line guide to filling it in, because the right entries depend on what your register says and what your order says.
Reviewed by: Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA), Kabir Family Law
Key takeaways
- It is the deed, not the order. A court order says who should own the home. Form TR1 is the document that moves it (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.24).
- Nothing changes until the register does. A transfer of a registered estate does not take effect at law until HM Land Registry registers it (s.27(1)).
- The law fixes the form. A transfer of a registered estate has to take one of the set forms, and TR1 is the one for the whole of a title (Land Registration Rules 2003, r.58).
- A witness has to watch you sign. Everyone transferring signs in front of a witness who signs too, and that witness cannot be another party to the transfer (LP(MP)A 1989, s.1(3)).
- The register can block it. A restriction, a notice or a lender’s charge can each stop HM Land Registry registering your transfer (HM Land Registry guidance).
- The fee is usually the cheaper scale. HM Land Registry puts a transfer of a matrimonial or civil partnership home under a court order on Scale 2, and ignores money one of you pays the other (HM Land Registry fees).
What is form TR1, and when do you need one?
HM Land Registry publishes it as “Registered title(s): whole transfer (TR1)”, with its own completion notes. Use it to move the whole of the property in one or more registered titles, or property joining the register for the first time. If only part of a title moves, the form becomes TP1 instead. Reach for a TR1 by mistake and it hands over all the property in that title, not the part you meant.
In a separation it usually appears at one of three moments. One of you buys the other out, and the home goes into a single name. The home is going into joint names for the first time. Or a judge has ordered a transfer as part of the settlement, and somebody now has to carry that order out (MCA 1973, s.24).
HM Land Registry prints its own warning above the form. It says land registration is complex and that there can be significant consequences for any error. Where there is a mortgage, it adds that the lender may insist a conveyancer handles it.
Order, deed, register: what actually moves the home?
Three separate things have to happen, and people routinely stop after the first. Each one is the job of a different document.
The court order
Decides who should end up owning the home.
- Made on divorce or dissolution, or agreed and sealed by a judge
- Binding between the two of you
- Changes nothing on the register by itself
The transfer deed
Is the form that actually hands the home over.
- TR1 for the whole of a registered title
- Signed by everyone transferring, in front of a witness
- Dated after everyone signs, never before
The register entry
Is the moment ownership really changes.
- HM Land Registry updates the title
- Until then the transfer does not work at law
- Needs the application form, identity evidence and the fee
That is why a sealed order on its own is not the finish line. Our guide to what happens next after a sealed consent order covers the rest of the list, and the financial consent order guide explains how you agree the terms in the first place.
What does each panel of the TR1 form ask for?
The form runs to twelve numbered panels. Most take a line. The ones that cause trouble are the ones that look easy.
- Panels 1 and 2, the title and the property. Taken from an up-to-date copy of the register, not from your memory of the address.
- Panel 3, the date. Leave it blank until everyone has signed. Dating it early is a classic mistake.
- Panels 4 and 5, who is transferring and who is receiving. The names must match the register. If a name has changed, HM Land Registry wants evidence, such as a marriage certificate or deed poll.
- Panel 8, the money. A price, a gift, or some other arrangement you spell out in full.
- Panel 9, the promises about the title. The person transferring makes binding promises here, and they still bind them after completion.
- Panel 10, the declaration of trust. Only where the home is going into more than one name, and it decides what each of you owns behind the title.
- Panel 12, the signatures. Signed as a deed, in front of a witness who also signs and gives their name and address.
Panel 10 deserves a second look. HM Land Registry itself calls joint ownership a difficult area that causes disputes when a relationship breaks down. Where the home is going into two or more names, leave that panel blank and send no separate trust form, and a Form A restriction goes on the title by default. That restriction then shapes what the last surviving owner can do without appointing somebody alongside them.
How do you send a TR1 form the Land Registry will register?
The route is short, and it is the order that matters. Each step depends on the one before it.
- Read the register first. Get an official copy and go through every entry: restrictions, notices, leasehold conditions and any lender’s charge. Each one can need action before HM Land Registry will register a transfer.
- Sort out the mortgage. Where a charge sits on the title, HM Land Registry expects either the lender’s consent or evidence that the mortgage ends.
- Complete and sign the transfer. TR1 for the whole of a registered title, TP1 for part. Signatures first, date afterwards.
- Fill in the application to change the register. That is form AP1 for a property already on the register, or FR1 for one that is not, plus a certificate of identity where the person applying is not a conveyancer.
- Work out the fee and send it all together. The forms, the evidence and the fee go in as one application (GOV.UK: change the registered owner name).
On fees, HM Land Registry puts a transfer of a matrimonial or civil partnership home under a court order on Scale 2, and works the fee out on the value of the property, even where the order tells one of you to pay the other. Take its own worked example: a £250,000 home carrying £100,000 of mortgage goes to one spouse, who pays the other £50,000. The fee then rests on £75,000, and that £50,000 drops out of the sum entirely. Scale 2 starts at £45 by post, or £20 through the portal, for a value up to £100,000. Those figures took effect on 9 December 2024 and were the published fees on 20 September 2026, so check the current fee table before you send anything.
Does a TR1 transfer on divorce trigger tax?
Usually not for Stamp Duty Land Tax. HMRC says you do not pay it where you transfer an interest in land or property to your partner as part of an agreement or court order because you are divorcing or dissolving a civil partnership, and the same applies on annulment or legal separation. In those cases there is no need to tell HMRC, whatever the value (GOV.UK: transfer ownership of land or property).
Outside that exemption the picture changes. Where joint owners never married and never entered a civil partnership, taking on someone else’s share of a mortgage counts as chargeable consideration, and tax can follow. Capital Gains Tax runs on separate rules again, and timing matters: see our guide to Capital Gains Tax on divorce.
Before you sign a form TR1: are you on track?
The two sides of a transfer carry different risks. Choose the side you are on, then tick what is already true.
There is no score. Anything you cannot tick yet is worth raising before anyone signs.
The calls a checklist can’t make for you
- Whether the wording of your order or agreement will actually produce a transfer HM Land Registry can register, or leaves a gap somebody has to go back to court to close.
- What order the mortgage release, the payment and the signing should come in, so neither of you signs too early.
- What the declaration of trust should say if the home is going into two names, and what that means if life changes again.
These depend on what your register says and what your order says, and they are far easier to settle before anyone signs than afterwards.
Book a free initial consultation
One of our specialists will give you initial advice on your situation.
What goes wrong with a transfer of the family home?
Almost none of these problems start at HM Land Registry. They start months earlier, and each one is cheaper to avoid than to unpick.
- Treating the order as the end. The register does not change itself, and the transfer does not work at law until HM Land Registry records it.
- Names that do not match the register. A married name, a middle name left out, a name changed by deed poll. Each needs evidence before the application can proceed.
- Forgetting the lender. A mortgage does not disappear because a judge said the home goes to one of you. Somebody still has to deal with the lender’s consent or the discharge.
- The wrong form. A TR1 moves the whole of a registered title. Where only part is moving, it is TP1.
- A witness who should not be one. One party to the transfer cannot witness another party’s signature.
- Panel 10 left blank. Where the home goes into two names, a default restriction lands on the title, and neither of you may have wanted it there.
- Assuming a delayed sale needs nothing else. If your settlement leaves one of you living there for now, the protection for the other share is a separate question from the transfer itself, and one our Mesher order guide takes further.
How do our specialists assist and advise?
Our specialists assist and advise from the first conversation. They explain how the terms you are discussing would land on the title, what the register is likely to throw up, and what order things need to happen in. Where a mortgage is in the way, they set out the questions to put to the lender early, rather than after everyone has signed. If an offer arrives, a specialist helps you understand what it would mean for the roof over your head.
A free initial consultation is a conversation with a specialist, who gives you initial advice on your circumstances. It does not include drafting or reviewing documents. Before the call, have the title number to hand if you can find it, plus the mortgage balance and a rough value for the home.
Frequently asked questions
What is a TR1 form in plain English?
It is the deed that transfers a whole registered property from one set of names to another. HM Land Registry calls it “Registered title(s): whole transfer (TR1)” and publishes it with completion notes. In a separation it is the document that carries out what your order or agreement says about the home. A transfer of a registered estate has to be in one of the set forms, and this is the one for the whole of a title (Land Registration Rules 2003, r.58).
Is the TR1 form UK-wide, or England and Wales only?
England and Wales only. The HM Land Registry publication says so on its face, and Scotland and Northern Ireland keep their own land registers with their own forms. Tax works the same way: Stamp Duty Land Tax does not apply in Scotland or Wales, which have Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Land Transaction Tax instead. So a form you found online is worth checking against the register your property sits on.
What is a transfer deed, and is it the same as a TR1 form?
They are the same thing. “Transfer deed” is the everyday name, and the TR1 transfer deed is the version HM Land Registry prescribes for the whole of a registered title. It is a deed in the strict sense, so you sign it in front of a witness who attests your signature, and you then deliver it as a deed (LP(MP)A 1989, s.1(3)). What people call a transfer of equity is the same event from the money side.
Who signs form TR1, and who has to witness it?
Everyone transferring the property signs it as a deed, in front of a witness who signs and prints their name and address. Where the transfer uses the declaration of trust or the additional provisions panel, the people receiving the property sign as well. One party to the transfer cannot witness another party’s signature. HM Land Registry says a spouse, civil partner or cohabitee can witness if they are not a party, but that it is better not to.
Do you pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on a transfer after divorce?
Usually not. HMRC says there is no Stamp Duty Land Tax where you transfer an interest in land or property to your partner as part of an agreement or court order because you are divorcing or dissolving a civil partnership, and the same goes for annulment or legal separation. There is no need to tell HMRC, whatever the value. Where that exemption does not apply, such as joint owners who never married, taking on a share of a mortgage counts as chargeable consideration.
What happens if nobody sends the TR1 to the Land Registry?
A signed TR1 the Land Registry never sees changes nothing. The register keeps showing the old owner, and the transfer does not take effect at law (Land Registration Act 2002, s.27(1)). That can surface years later, when somebody sells or remortgages the home, or when an owner dies and the title says something the family never expected. It is also harder to fix then, because the people who need to sign may have moved on, remarried or become impossible to find.
Can you use form TR1 to transfer only part of a property?
No. HM Land Registry is explicit that this form transfers all the property in the registered title, and that you use form TP1 where only part is moving. The distinction is about land, not shares: if a sole owner wants the home to go into joint names, that is still a whole-title transfer, and the existing owner’s own name goes in the panel for the people receiving it as well.
Transfer paperwork sitting on the kitchen table? Talk it through this week
You sign a deed once. Beforehand you can still settle the order it carries out, the mortgage behind it and the wording about who owns what. Once the register changes, all three become far harder to move. Book a free initial consultation and one of our specialists will give you initial advice on where you stand.
Book a free initial consultation or call 0330 094 5880
You can also return to our guide to financial settlement after divorce.
General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.
Expert Tip
Clients commonly ask why a transfer has stalled months after their order. Nearly always, nobody looked at the register until the deed was ready to sign, and a restriction or the lender’s position sat there all along. Get an official copy of the title at the point you start talking about who keeps the home, not at the point somebody reaches for a pen. It costs very little and it changes what you agree.
Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist
