matrimonial home rights notice
Home rights can be safeguarded by registering a notice on the Land Registry title register.
The Family Home
Right To Remain
Where there is a home rights notice in place you have the following protection:
Your Right
A right not to be evicted or excluded from the property except by a court order
Your Occupation
A right, if not in occupation, to enter into and occupy the property.
Notice Rights
A right to be given notice of any mortgage possession proceedings and with the court’s permission to take part in the proceedings.
Tenant Spouse
The right for your mortgage or rent payments to be treated as that coming from the owning or tenant spouse or civil partner.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Matrimonial Home Rights Notice will stop the legal owner of a solely owned property from selling, transferring, or mortgaging the property without the knowledge or consent of the non-owning partner. It is a way of protecting the rights of a spouse or civil partner who does not own or have their name on the property title. This is a useful way to protect your potential financial or residency rights during legal proceedings.
A Matrimonial Home Rights Notice is registered with the Land Registry and creates a legal restriction on the property’s title. Anyone searching for the property title will be alerted that another person has a declared interest in the property. For example, if the property owner attempts to sell or re-mortgage the home, the Notice means the transaction cannot proceed without addressing the interest of the person who lodged the Notice.
You would get a Notice if your name is not on the title deeds of the property but you live there as part of your marriage or civil partnership. This will mean you are not forced out of the shared home during divorce proceedings and helps secure your share of the property’s value during your financial settlement.
We Can complete and submit a HR1 Form to the Land Registry. You provide proof of your marriage or civil partnership and details of the property. Complete the form and send it to the Land Registry for processing. Once registered, you receive a confirmation and the legal restriction will take effect.
Currently there is not a fee to register a Home Rights Notice. This means that it a cost-effective way to protect your interests in your shared home during your divorce or civil partnership dissolution proceedings.
A Matrimonial Home Rights Notice remains in place until the divorce or civil partnership dissolution is finalised, financial matters are resolved, a court order removes the notice, or the registered party withdraws the notice. It is important to update or remove the notice when appropriate, as leaving it in place unnecessarily can complicate future property transactions.
A Matrimonial Home Rights Notice does not prevent the sale or transfer of the property. However, it does make the process much more difficult. A mortgage lender or buyer will normally require that the notice is resolved before proceeding with the transaction.
To remove a Home Rights Notice, you can cancel it by completing and submitting a form HR4 to the Land Registry. The property owner can also apply to the court to have the notice removed if they think it is no longer relevant or valid. The court will decide whether the notice is still necessary.
Protecting your right to remain in the family home in the event of a relationship breakdown
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Under matrimonial home rights in the UK, both spouses have equal rights to stay in the matrimonial home, regardless of who owns it. This means that even if one spouse is the legal owner of the property, the other spouse has the right to live in the home and cannot be evicted without a court order. These rights apply whether the property is owned outright, mortgaged, rented, or provided by a local authority. We provide helping hand complete the all the documentation correctly.
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