Form

Guidance: how to complete form AS1

Updated 29 August 2023

Applies to England and Wales

1. Before completing form AS1

We do not require you to use a solicitor or other legal adviser to complete an application, but if there is a mortgage involved against any of the deceased’s property titles, the lender may insist that you do. Please be aware that although we can help you to complete forms, we do not give legal advice.

When the owner of land or property dies, the Probate Registry will confirm the appointment of people entitled to deal with the estate. They are called executors if the deceased left a valid will, or administrators if there is no valid will. The evidence of the appointment of the executors will be contained in the probate, and of the administrators in letters of administration.

In our form AS1 and these notes, we use the collective term personal representative to describe either an executor or administrator, and the term transferee to describe the beneficiary. A transfer by personal representative to a beneficiary is called an assent.

Read more information about wills and probate.

1.1 When to use form AS1

You should use form AS1 to assent, ie transfer, the whole of one or more registered titles to the beneficiary or beneficiaries.

If you use this form, the ownership will change for all the land and property in the title.

If form AS1 is not appropriate for your particular circumstances, you may need to use:

• form AS2: assent of a charge (mortgage) (ie where the deceased was a lender)
• form AS3: assent of part (eg part of the garden) of one or more registered titles
• form TR1: sale of the whole of one or more registered titles
• form TP1: sale of part of one or more registered titles

2. How to complete form AS1

It is easier to complete many of the panels if you have an official copy of the register.

2.1 Panel 1: title number

Insert the title number(s) of the land that you are going to assent (this number appears at the top of the first page of an official copy of the register. You can use one form for more than one title number, providing they are in the same ownership. If the land is not registered and you are applying for first registration of the property, leave this panel blank.

2.2 Panel 2: property

Insert a brief description of the land that you intend to assent. If the land is registered you will find this at the beginning of the Property Register as shown on the official copy of the register and will normally be the postal address (if there is one).

2.3 Panel 3: date

Insert the date when the assent was executed in this panel. Do not do this until after the assent has been executed (see panel 12 below).

2.4 Panel 4: name of deceased proprietor

Write the full names (including all middle names) of the person or persons who died. Do not include titles such as “Mr” or “Mrs”, but if they had any other title, please include it.

If the information you put in this box does not match the ownership details that appear in the Property Register of the registered title(s), you must supply evidence as to why, eg if the deceased’s name had changed, you might include a deed poll or marriage certificate.

2.5 Panel 5: personal representative of deceased proprietor

Insert the full names of the person(s) appointed by the grant of probate/letters of administration.

If the transferee is a company, you will need to complete the additional questions in the panel.

2.6 Panel 6: transferee

Write the full name of the transferee(s) (beneficiary). This is often the same as the personal representative. We are not obliged to check that the personal representative is acting in accordance with any will. By law, we must assume that they are fulfilling their legal obligations.

If the transferee is a company, you will need to complete the additional questions in the panel.

2.7 Panel 7: transferee’s address for service

Each transferee needs to supply us with a correspondence address, which must be a postal address in the UK or abroad. Please remember to include any postcode or overseas equivalent. You may also supply up to two other addresses for each transferee, which may be a postal, email, box number or UK document exchange address.

Keeping your address up to date is very important because we may have to send important notices which could affect your rights.

2.8 Panel 8: assent

This statement is appropriate in all cases; do not add to, or otherwise amend it.

2.9 Panel 9: title guarantees

In providing these guarantees the transferor(s), ie the personal representative(s), give certain binding promises about the title to the land. There are two types, though either may be modified. These guarantees impose obligations, which will continue to bind the owner even after completion of the assent. This area is complex and if you have any doubts we recommend you seek advice from a solicitor or other legal adviser. HM Land Registry cannot give you legal advice.

Full Title Guarantee: The transferor(s) guarantee, to the best of their knowledge, that there are no financial charges/encumbrances (eg mortgages) or other third party interests (eg rights of way/leases) which affect the land other than those already revealed to the transferee(s).

Limited Title Guarantee: Limited title guarantee is a more restricted set of promises by the transferor(s). This guarantees that the transferor(s) have not themselves created, or allowed to be created, any charge, encumbrance, or third party interest, which still exists at the date of the assent.

It is often the case that the personal representative is unable to give more than a limited title guarantee because it is less easy for them to know what interests the deceased had created.

2.10 Panel 10: declaration of trust

This panel should be completed if there is more than one transferee.

Joint ownership is a difficult area of the law. It can lead to disputes when a joint owner dies or the relationship between joint owners breaks down. Recording the joint owners’ intentions in panel 10 of the transfer or in a separate form JO may help to avoid such disputes later on. However, this is only a starting point, as the joint owners’ intentions may change over time.

If there is more than one transferee, as joint owners they will automatically hold the property on a trust of land for themselves and /or anybody else who has a beneficial interest in the land.

Joint owners can hold their beneficial interest in the land as joint tenants or as tenants in common.

Beneficial joint tenants do not own specific shares in the property. If one of them dies, their interest passes automatically to the surviving beneficial joint tenant(s), even if they have made a will leaving it to someone else.

Beneficial tenants in common own specific shares in the property, which may be equal or unequal and they can leave their share to someone else in their will.

Unless it is clear, at the time of acquisition, that the joint transferees intend to hold the beneficial interest on trust for themselves alone as joint tenants, we have a duty to enter a restriction in Form A on the register. The effect of this restriction is that we will not register a sale or mortgage of the property unless there are at least two registered proprietors, as trustees to jointly receive the sale or mortgage monies. This means the last survivor of tenants in common is not permitted to sell the property without proving that the trust has come to an end or appointing a new co-trustee.

If the joint transferees intend to hold the property on trust for themselves alone as joint tenants, they should place an ‘X’ in the first box. Alternatively, if they intend to hold the beneficial interest as tenants in common in equal shares, they should place an ‘X’ in the second box. They should place an ‘X’ in the third box if they intend to hold it in unequal shares, or for themselves and others (whether in equal or unequal shares), or under the terms of a separate existing trust deed or will, and in each case they should also add the relevant details.

As an alternative to completing this panel, you may use the trust information form JO. Form JO contains the same options as panel 10 but is designed to assist in providing the relevant information and ensuring that each joint transferee signs a declaration of trust (see panel 12 below). If the declaration of the trust on which the transferees will be holding the property is already contained in a separate deed or will, a conveyancer may include details of it in, and sign, the form JO instead of the transferees.

If neither panel 10 of the transfer nor a form JO are completed and lodged with the application to register a transfer to joint transferees, we will enter a Form A restriction by default.

If you have any doubts about what is required you should seek professional advice before you proceed.

2.11 Panel 11: additional provisions

Sometimes there are covenants or agreements between the transferor(s) and transferee(s). This is where you should enter the details. You may wish to seek legal advice as such covenants or agreements are binding on the person(s) who gives them even after completion of the transfer.

If you are a conveyancer you can also include the following certificate instead of enclosing the grant of probate or letters of administration, or a court order appointing the personal representatives:

“I am the applicant’s conveyancer and certify that I am holding the original or a certified or office copy of the grant of probate, letters of administration or court order. I confirm that the grant of probate, letters of administration or court order was granted in the United Kingdom.”

2.12 Panel 12: execution

All the personal representatives must execute (legally sign) the deed, using the following words:

Signed as a deed by ________(full name of personal representative)______(signature)______In the presence of: ______(signature of witness)____(print name and address of witness)_______

If panels 10 or 11 have been completed then the transferees must sign also.

The witness should be independent, and preferably someone who knows you well and could confirm you did sign the deed if necessary. One person may witness more than one signature but must sign and complete the details below every signature witnessed.

There are different requirements if the assent is being signed by an attorney or company, or at the direction of the transferor. Contact us for the form of wording in those circumstances.

3. Stamp Duty Land Tax

You do not usually have to provide evidence of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). However, if the person acquiring the property gives a consideration of £40,000 or more for it, other than where they assume responsibility for a secured debt, a Land Transaction Return certificate in form SDLT5 will be required.

If you are unsure whether your transfer requires a Land Transaction Return certificate, contact HM Revenue and Customs.

4. Where to send your application

Once you have completed form AS1, complete application form AP1 or FR1 as appropriate.

Send your completed forms and an official copy of the probate/letters of administration to the HM Land Registry address for applications. There is no need to send a covering letter.