Land Registry Form AS1
29/07/2019
16
10 min read
Land Registry Form AS1 is one of various highly important forms which are concerned with passing on property to a beneficiary or beneficiaries (aka inheritors) after the death/s of the original owner/s, whether via Probate or Administration .
You aren't required by the Land Registry to use a solicitor or other legal adviser to complete the form, but if there is a mortgage involved against any of the deceased’s property titles, the relevant lender may insist that you do.
NB The Land Registry can help you to complete forms but will not give out legal advice.
Ever wondered how to change your name on the Land Registry?
When a property owner or landowner dies, the Probate Registry will confirm the appointment of people entitled to deal with the estate, whom are known as executors if the deceased left a valid will, or administrators if there is no valid will (this is known as being intestate).
The evidence of the appointment of the executors will be contained in the probate, and of the administrators in letters of administration.
In what follows, the term personal representative is used variously 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.
What follows concerns:
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When you should you use Land Registry 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)
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View a sample Land Registry Form AS1
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How to complete Land Registry Form AS
You'll find it easier to complete many of the panels in the form if you have an official copy of the register (click to find out more).
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
Panel 6: transferee
Write the full name of the transferee(s) (beneficiary). This is often the same as the personal representative. The Land Registry is not obliged to check that the personal representative is acting in accordance with any will. By law, the Land Registry has to 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.
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 the Land Registry might have to send important notices which could affect your rights.
Panel 8: assent
This statement is appropriate in all cases; do not add to, or otherwise amend it.
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, as stated previously.
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.
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, the Land Registry has a duty to enter a restriction in Form A on the register. The effect of this restriction is that it 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 (click to find out more) 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, the Land Registry 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.
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.
Panel 12: execution
All the transferors 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 the Land Registry for the form of wording in those circumstances.
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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.
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Where to send your application
Once you have completed form AS1, you must then complete application form AP1.
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.
Need help with Land Registry AS1 and other related forms?
Our expert and sensitive solicitors can help.
* Experienced property lawyers – Sensitive Service – Competitively priced
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