You and Your Matrimonial Home Rights

 

If it applies to you, you must give serious thought to the situation described in the section below called ‘Why is registering your home rights important?’ before you start your divorce proceedings. Please under no circumstances must you neglect this.

WHY IS REGISTERING YOU HOME RIGHTS IMPORTANT?

If you are contemplating divorcing your ex-partner but the house you both live in as a couple/family is owned SOLELY by your ex-partner then you must be aware of what this means for you. As your ex-partner owns the house, they could sell it without your permission, re-mortgage it, ask you to leave or change the locks and exclude you. You need to decide whether you need to protect yourself in case your ex-partner goes down this route. 

If you feel your ex-partner may do this then you MUST register ‘matrimonial home rights’ with the land registry to stop them. Once the land registry grants you ‘matrimonial home rights’ then the only way you can be excluded from the home is if your ex-partner get an occupation order from the court.

WHAT IS HOME RIGHTS?

Home rights is a term used where an ex-partner has the right to remain in the matrimonial home, even if their name is not on the ownership of the home – their name is not on the deeds of the property. They can stay in the other ex-partner’s property as it was the matrimonial home. Home rights under the Family Law Act 1996 gives protection to the ex-partner who has right of occupation in the house owned by the other ex-partner. 

WHAT PROTECTION DOES REGISTERING YOUR HOME RIGHTS GIVE YOU?

As stated above registering your home rights with the land registry means that your ex-partner cannot sell or re-mortgage the house without you knowing. They cannot also ask you to leave or exclude you from the property without an occupation court order.

HOW MANY PROPERTIES CAN YOU REGISTER YOUR HOME RIGHTS AGAINST?

You can only register your home rights against one property. 

HOW LONG WILL YOUR HOME RIGHTS LAST?

Your home rights will last for the duration of your divorce until the court issues a final order or decree absolute. A final order/decree absolute is a legal document stating your marriage has ended. 

CAN YOU RENEW YOUR EXISTING HOME RIGHTS?

Yes you can. If you want to occupy your marital home after your final order/decree absolute has been granted you can ask the court to grant you a continuation order allowing you to stay in the home. The court will do this if your financial settlement has not been finalised and you already have registered a home rights with the land registry. 

CAN YOU CANCEL YOUR HOME RIGHTS?

Yes you can at any time.

CAN YOUR EX-PARTNER CANCEL YOUR HOME RIGHTS?

Your ex-partner can apply to the land registry to cancel your home rights in the following circumstances – 

• The court has issued an court order ending the home rights.
• A final order/decree absolute has been granted by the court – a final order/decree absolute is a legal document stating your marriage has ended.
• You have passed away and there is a death certificate
• A letter from you detailing that you wish to end your home rights.

CAN YOU REGISTER A HOME RIGHTS ON A PROPERTY YOUR EX-PARTNER JOINTLY OWNS WITH SOMEONE ELSE?

If your ex-partner owns your marital home with someone else, you will not be able to register your home rights. The only exception is if your ex-partner is the sole beneficial owner. This means that if the property were sold they would receive all the money.

CAN YOU REGISTER A HOME RIGHTS ON A PROPERTY THAT IS IN A TRUST?

Yes you can as long as there is no other person alive or not yet born that is or can be a beneficiary other than your ex-partner. In other words only your ex-partner can have an interest in the property held in trust.

HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHETHER YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED HOME RIGHTS?

The land registry will send you a letter informing you they have granted you home rights.

WILL YOUR EX-PARTNER BE INFORMED ONCE THE LAND REGISTRY GRANT YOUR HOME RIGHTS?

Yes they will. The land registry will send your ex-partner a letter/notice that they have granted you matrimonial home rights.

IS IT EXPENSIVE TO REGISTER, TRANSFER, RENEW OR CANCEL YOUR HOME RIGHTS?

It is free to register, transfer, renew or cancel your home rights with the land registry.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO FIRST BEFORE YOU COMPLETE THE FORM TO REGISTER YOUR HOME RIGHTS WITH THE LAND REGISTRY?

The first thing you need to do before you can register your home rights is to find out whether your home is registered with the land registry. 

• • • What is a registered property – A registered property is one which is listed on the land registry central register detailing who owns the property.
    • What is an unregistered property – An unregistered property is one where no details of the property are recorded in the land registry central register. The information will be on the title deeds on the property. The title deeds are often kept with the mortgage lender or the owner of the property. 

To do this you will need to do a government search for property information. There is a small fee to get this information. The information you can get is the following – 

• • A PROPERTY SUMMARY 
    • The property address
    • The property description
    • Whether the property is freehold or leasehold
    • Whether there are any restrictive covenants
    • Whether there are any easements – the rights of one piece of land over another.
  • A TITLE REGISTER
    • The title number of your home 
    • The name of the person who owns your home.
    • How much the owner paid for it.
    • Any restrictive covenants or easements
    • Whether any mortgage has been paid off
    • If your home is freehold or leasehold. 
  • A TITLE PLAN
    • Information about your homes location and boundaries

There are many ways you can get this information. They are – 

1) You can search the land and property register online by address. Please click on the link below.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR SEARCH FOR LAND AND PROPERTY INFORMATION BY ADDRESS

2) If you cannot find your home in the above search, then you can search the index map. Please click on the links below.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE – GET INFORMATION ABOUT PROPERTY AND LAND – SEARCH THE INDEX MAP

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR APPLICATION FOR AN OFFICIAL SEARCH

LINK TO GOVERNMENT GUIDE 10 – OFFICIAL SEARCH OF THE INDEX MAP

3) If you cannot still find your property you can get a copy of the title deeds. Please click on the link below.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE – HOW TO GET A COPY OF THE TITLE DEEDS

4) If none of the above are successful then your property is probably unregistered.

The forms you will need to register your home rights differ for registered and unregistered properties. Please click on the boxes below.

WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MATRIMONIAL HOME RIGHTS?

There are 2 government guides that will give you more information. Please click on the links below. 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT PRACTICE GUIDE 20: HOME RIGHTS AND APPLICATIONS UNDER THE FAMILY LAW ACT 1996

LINK TO GOVERNMENT GUIDE TO STAYING IN YOUR PARTNERS PROPERTY DURING A DIVORCE OR SEPARATION

WHAT FORMS WILL YOU NEED – PLEASE SEE BELOW 

BOX 1 – Form HR1 – This form is used to register your home rights with the land registry if your home is a registered property. A registered property is where your home is listed on the land registry register including details of who owns it. You can also use form HR1 to transfer your home rights from one property to another. 

BOX 2 – Form HR2 – This is the form used to renew your existing home rights with the land registry if your home is a registered property.

BOX 3 – Form HR4 – This form is used to cancel existing home rights with the land registry if your home is a registered property.

BOX 4 – Form K2 – This form is used to register your home rights (also called a land charge) with the land charges department if your home is an unregistered property. An unregistered property is where the details of your home is not listed in a register kept by the land registry. These details are in a document called title deeds. The title deeds detail who owns the house and is normally kept by your mortgage lender.

BOX 5 – Form K8 – This form is used to renew your existing home rights (also called a land charge) with the land charges department if your home is an unregistered property. 

BOX 6 – Form K13 – This form is used to cancel existing home rights (also called a land charge) with the land charges department if your home is an unregistered property. 

BOX 7 – Form CS – This form is a continuation sheet used when there is not enough space on forms TR1 (mentioned elsewhere in this website), HR1, HR2 and HR4 to complete your answers and you need an extra sheet to finish.