Form RX4 and Transferring the Family Home After Divorce

Part of: Financial Settlement after Divorce

Form RX4 asks HM Land Registry to withdraw a restriction from the register, so a property can change hands. After a divorce, that entry often blocks the last step between the order you fought for and the home finally moving into one name. However, RX4 works only when the person who benefits from the restriction consents, and for the commonest entry of all it is usually the wrong form. Our financial settlement after divorce specialists assist and advise at every stage of the transfer. This page covers the law of England and Wales.

It explains what the restriction does, which HM Land Registry form takes it off, and what else has to happen before the title can move. It is not a step-by-step land registration manual, because a mistake on the register costs a great deal to unpick.

Reviewed by: Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA), Kabir Family Law

What is form RX4, and what does it do?

Form RX4 asks HM Land Registry to withdraw a restriction from the proprietorship register of a title. It transfers nothing, and it removes nobody’s name from the deeds. It only takes away the entry that tells HM Land Registry to refuse a dealing until someone meets a condition.

The power comes from section 47 of the Land Registration Act 2002, and the detail sits in rule 98. Rule 98(2) defines the “required consent”: the person the restriction names, or, where it names nobody, everyone who appears to the registrar to have an interest in it. A conveyancer can instead certify that they hold those consents (r.98(4)). Once the registrar accepts that consent, HM Land Registry removes the entry and does not reopen the question of whether the restriction still serves a purpose.

That is the whole appeal of the RX4 route. It moves quickly and it costs nothing, because consent has already settled the argument. So the practical question is never “how do I fill this in”. It is whether you may use it at all.

RX4 or RX3: which land registry form removes the restriction?

People look up the land registry form RX4 expecting one answer. In fact there are three, and only one of them is RX4. Which applies depends on who benefits from the restriction and on what it actually says.

Rule 98(3) is the trap. It blocks withdrawal of a restriction that reflects a limit on a proprietor’s powers under statute or the general law, one the registrar had to enter, or one that mirrors a court order or an undertaking given in place of one. Practice guide 19 then spells out that Forms A, B and C “will very often” come within that rule. In other words, most jointly owned family homes carry an entry that RX3 and ST5 cancel, rather than one an RX4 form withdraws.

Why does a restriction stop the home moving into one name?

A restriction does not stop you selling or transferring. It stops HM Land Registry registering the deal until someone meets its condition. Until that happens, the register still shows the old owners, whatever the paperwork on your kitchen table says.

The usual entry is the standard Form A restriction, which appears whenever a couple hold as tenants in common or a beneficiary asks for one. Practice guide 19 explains its purpose plainly: it makes sure any capital money reaches two trustees or a trust corporation. That protects whoever holds a share behind the legal title. So it does exactly its job when it holds up a transfer into a single name.

Two further points catch people out. First, HM Land Registry does not cancel restrictions automatically once a disposition goes through, so an entry can sit on a title for years after it stopped mattering. Second, and more painfully, HM Land Registry states that a restriction may catch an application to register a disposition “even when the disposition is made pursuant to an order of the court”, and it names the breakdown of a marriage as the example. A sealed order is not a key to the register.

If you are still deciding who keeps the home rather than how to move it, our guides to the financial consent order and to a Mesher order cover that earlier stage. Unmarried couples follow a different route through a TOLATA property claim, and a declaration of trust often records the shares behind the title.

How does the family home transfer, step by step?

Every title is different. Even so, a transfer after divorce usually moves through the same six stages, and the register comes last rather than first.

1. Fix the terms. Agreed terms go to a judge as a consent order. Otherwise the court decides, and it can order one of you to transfer the property to the other (s.24(1)(a)).
2. Wait for the final order. A property order made on divorce takes effect only once the court makes the divorce order final (s.24(3)). So a transfer signed too early achieves nothing.
3. Settle the mortgage question. The lender is not a party to your marriage. Where an application for a financial remedy relates to land, the applicant must serve any mortgage lender named in it, and that lender may file a statement in answer (Family Procedure Rules, r.9.13(3) and (5)).
4. Sign the transfer deed. A whole registered title moves on HM Land Registry’s transfer form; only part of a title uses a different one. Read our guide to the TR1 form for how that document works.
5. Deal with the restriction. Withdraw it, cancel it, or comply with it. Get this wrong and the whole application stalls at the very end.
6. Register the transfer. Removing a restriction costs nothing, but registering the transfer itself carries a scale fee based on the property (HM Land Registry: Registration Services fees). Check the current figure before you budget.

Only step six is really about forms. The first five decide the settlement, and that is where a specialist earns their keep.

Before you send form RX4: which transfer route are you on?

Pick the route that fits, then tick what is already true today. The gaps are what to raise before anybody signs anything.

What can go wrong when the family home transfers?

Most of these show up at the end, when everyone assumed the hard part was over. Each one costs less to avoid than to fix.

• Sending the wrong application. A withdrawal needs consent; a cancellation needs evidence. Send the wrong one, and HM Land Registry rejects it while the transfer waits.
• Treating the order as the transfer. The order tells a person to transfer the home. Someone still has to sign a deed, and HM Land Registry still has to register it.
• Leaving the lender until last. A judge can move the property between you. However, a judge cannot make a lender lend to one of you alone.
• Acting before the divorce is final. Under s.24(3) the order takes effect only then, so a transfer signed early can achieve nothing.
• Forgetting the entry is still there. HM Land Registry does not cancel restrictions automatically, so an old entry can surface years later when you try to sell or remortgage.
• Ignoring the tax clock. Section 58 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 treats a transfer between spouses or civil partners as giving neither a gain nor a loss, but only inside its windows. Our guide to Capital Gains Tax on divorce covers it, and you should check HMRC guidance for your own case.

Stamp duty is usually the easy one. A transaction between spouses made under a court order on divorce, or under an agreement made in connection with it, is exempt from stamp duty land tax (Finance Act 2003, Sch. 3, para. 3), and civil partners have the same exemption under paragraph 3A.

How do our specialists assist and advise?

Our specialists assist and advise from the first conversation. They explain what your title entry means for the settlement you are negotiating, and which questions the register will ask at the end. Because timing matters, expect practical guidance on the order of events: final order, lender, deed, entry, registration. If the other side stalls, they explain the routes the court has for that too. Our guides to the pension sharing order and to enforcing financial court orders cover the neighbouring pieces.

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 property address to hand, plus a rough value, the mortgage balance and the date you separated.

Frequently asked questions

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.

Expert Tip

Before you argue about who keeps the home, download a copy of the title and read the proprietorship register. It takes minutes, and it tells you whether an entry sits there, which one it is, and whose consent you will need at the end. Families often agree terms for months, then discover at completion that the one person who has to consent has stopped answering. Knowing that on day one changes how you word the order.

Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist