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Guidance

Home rights and applications under the Family Law Act 1996 (PG20)

How to protect, renew or cancel a spouse’s or civil partner’s home rights arising under the Family Law Act 1996 (practice guide 20).

Updates to this page

From:
HM Land Registry
Published:
13 October 2003
Last updated:
14 September 2026
Show all updates

  1. Sections 4, 6 and 16 have been amended to clarify our requirements for completing panels 5, 6 and 7 of forms HR1 and HR2 to help reduce avoidable delays or requisitions.

  2. The guide has been amended to provide clearer guidance for customers to improve the lodgement of applications.

  3. Section 4 has been amended to warn against making an application without reasonable cause.

  4. Amended as a result of the Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 coming into force on 2 December 2019 which allows opposite-sex couples to become civil partners.

  5. We have renamed the guide to better reflect the subject matter. No amendments have been made to the content of the guide.

  6. Section 1.1 has been updated to reflect our current practice relating to the use of copy documents for some applications for first registration. Sections 4, 5 and 6 of this guide have been updated to remove references to outline applications following the revocation of rule 54 of the Land Registration Rules 2003 by the Land Registration (Amendment) Rules 2018 coming into force on 6 April 2018.

  7. Link to the advice we offer added

  8. Link to the advice we offer added.

  9. Sections 14 and 15 have been amended as a result of changes to contact details.

  10. First published.

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Practice guide 20: home rights and applications under the Family Law Act 1996

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Details

Aimed at conveyancers, this guide explains how to make applications to register, renew or cancel home rights arising under the Family Law Act 1996, as amended by the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (which itself was amended by the Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019). It also covers official searches made by registered mortgagees to reveal the existence of such rights.

We only provide factual information and impartial advice about our procedures. Read more about the advice we give.

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