Staying in your partner's property during a divorce or separation

Skip to contents of guide

Apply if the property is unregistered

Download and fill in the application for registration of a ‘Class F Land Charge’.

There’s a £1 fee - payment instructions are on the form.

Send the form and payment to the address on the form.

If you want to move to a different property

You can only protect your right to live in one property at a time.

You can ask HM Land Registry to transfer your home rights to another property owned by your spouse or civil partner if you’ve already registered your right to live in one property.

Download and fill in the application for registration of a ‘Class F Land Charge’.

There’s a £1 fee - payment instructions are on the form.

Send the form and payment to the address on the form.

Follow the application process for registered properties if the property you’re moving into is registered - you can search the register to find out if it’s registered.

Staying in the property after divorce or separation

You may be able to continue living in your home for longer, for example if a court has made a ‘continuation order’ allowing you to do so during an ongoing dispute about who owns what.

How you apply depends on whether you’ve already registered your home rights.

Download and fill in either an:

There’s a £1 fee - payment instructions are on the form.

Send the form and payment to the address on the form.

You’ll get a letter from HM Land Registry when they’ve registered your continued rights.

Your ex-spouse or civil partner will also get a letter telling them you’ve made the application.

  1. Step 1 Get support and advice

    You can get support or counselling to help you through the divorce process.

    1. Get support and advice from Relate
    2. Find a counsellor on Counselling Directory
  2. Step 2 Check if you can get divorced

  3. Step 3 Make arrangements for children, money and property

  4. Step 4 Apply for a divorce

  5. Step 5 Apply for a ‘conditional order’ or ‘decree nisi’

  6. Step 6 Finalise your divorce

  7. Step 7 Report that your circumstances have changed

    You also have to tell other government organisations that you're getting divorced if: