Form AP1 UK: How to Complete & Submit (2026 Guide)

At a glance

• What it is: Form AP1 is HM Land Registry's general-purpose application to change the register — its most-used form, covering transfers, mortgages, name changes and much more.
• Current version: the form dated 7 October 2024, with the accompanying guidance last updated 23 December 2025. Always download the current version from GOV.UK rather than an old copy.
• Fee: the form itself is free; the registration fee is set by the Land Registration Fee Order 2024 (in effect since 9 December 2024) and varies by application type, value, and whether you apply by post or through the portal.
• Priority protection: an official search with priority (OS1 or OS2) creates a 30-working-day priority period under rule 131 of the Land Registration Rules 2003, protecting your application against most competing entries if the AP1 is lodged within that window.
• Legal effect: under section 27 of the Land Registration Act 2002, a registrable disposition such as a transfer or a mortgage does not take effect at law until it is completed by registration — which is what the AP1 sets in motion.
• Processing time: roughly 30% of register-change applications are automated and complete within minutes; many others, including transfers and name changes, commonly take around 16 weeks, and HM Land Registry says most complete within about 8 months (some longer). A free expedite service exists for urgent cases.
• Requisitions: HM Land Registry raises a requisition (a formal query) on nearly 20% of applications; it estimates almost half of these could have been avoided with a more carefully checked application.

What Form AP1 does and when you need it

Form AP1 sits at the end of most transactions involving registered land in England and Wales. Once a sale, transfer, mortgage, or other dealing has completed between the parties, AP1 is how that change gets formally recorded on HM Land Registry's register.

The form itself is short. It works as a cover sheet for the supporting documents that prove what has actually happened — typically the signed transfer deed (TR1 for a whole transfer, TP1 for part), any mortgage deed, and evidence that Stamp Duty Land Tax has been dealt with where it applies. AP1 asks for the title number, the nature of the application, the applicant's details, the fee being paid, and any priority search protection you are relying on.

HM Land Registry describes AP1 as covering "a range of dealings with registered land," and its own guidance lists common uses including registering a transfer, adding or removing a name from a title, changing a name after marriage or by deed poll, registering a discharge of mortgage, or entering a restriction. Whatever the specific dealing, the legal mechanism is the same under section 27 of the Land Registration Act 2002: a disposition of a registered estate that is required to be completed by registration does not operate at law until the registration requirements are met. The AP1 is the vehicle that starts that registration process.

Before you start: documents you'll need

Gather your supporting documents before you touch the form itself, since AP1 is the cover sheet and the substance sits in what you attach:

• The transfer or dealing document — usually the completed and signed TR1 (whole transfer), TP1 (part transfer), or a mortgage deed, depending on what you are registering.
• A recent official copy of the register, so you can check the title number and current entries match exactly what you are about to submit.
• SDLT evidence, where Stamp Duty Land Tax was payable on the transaction.
• Identity evidence for every party to the application and for whoever is named as lodging it — HM Land Registry's separate identity-evidence guidance sets out what is acceptable, and this must be completed for each party in a separate box.
• A note of any official search reference (OS1 or OS2), if a priority search has been carried out.

Panel-by-panel: how to complete Form AP1

HM Land Registry's own guidance on completing form AP1 assumes the person filling it in is not a professional conveyancer, and sets out each panel. The main ones are:

1. Panel 1 — local authority area. Enter the council you pay council tax to (county borough, unitary authority, London borough, or district council).
2. Panel 2 — title number(s). Enter the title number exactly as it appears on the register. This must match the existing register precisely; a mismatch here is one of the most common reasons applications get requisitioned.
3. Panel 3 — this application affects. Tick whether your application affects the whole of the title (for example, adding a co-owner) or only part of it (for example, a sale of part of a garden), in which case you will usually need to describe or plan the affected land.
4. Panel 4 — application, priority and fees. List each application you are making, one per line, in priority order — it is your responsibility to make that order clear. Enter the value of the transaction (or the property's value, if nothing is changing hands; a good-faith valuation is acceptable, no professional valuation is required). Quote any priority search reference here.
5. Panel 5 — documents lodged. List every document you are sending. HM Land Registry only needs certified copies of deeds and documents; once scanned, originals and certified copies are destroyed, except "cherished documents" such as birth, marriage and death certificates, passports and probate certificates, which are returned.
6. Panel 6 — the applicant. The name(s) of the person(s) actually applying to change the register.
7. Panel 7 — application lodged by. Your (or your firm's) contact details, including a key number if you are a professional customer with one. HM Land Registry will only correspond with the person named here, and it will only acknowledge a postal application if you provide an email address.
8. Panel 8 — third party notification. Leave this blank. HM Land Registry stopped sending third-party notifications from 15 January 2024.
9. Panel 9 — address for service. The address HM Land Registry will use to write to the property owner(s) if needed. Complete this if you are changing an address for service even without a change of ownership, and note "change of address for service" in panel 4 too.
10. Panel 10 — new charges. Only relevant if you are registering a new mortgage.
11. Panel 11 — disclosable overriding interests. Certain interests you must disclose if they affect the property — for example short leases, rights of people in actual occupation, or chancel repair liability.
12. Panels 12–14 — evidence of identity. Complete for every party to the application and for whoever is named in panel 7, using a separate box for each party.
13. Panel 15 — signature. The applicant named in panel 6 signs and dates the form.

There is no need to send a covering letter — HM Land Registry processes AP1 on the information in the panels and the documents you list.

Fees: what you'll pay to register

The AP1 form itself is free. What you pay is the registration fee, set out in the Land Registration Fee Order 2024, which came into effect on 9 December 2024. HM Land Registry uses two fee scales:

• Scale 1 mainly applies to transfers for monetary consideration and first registrations. Fees are assessed on the price paid (or the property's value if nothing is paid).
• Scale 2 mainly applies to transfers by gift or on death, assents, mortgages, and most other applications affecting registered estates. Fees are assessed on the property's value (less any continuing mortgage) or the amount secured by a charge.

Both scales offer a reduced fee for whole-title transactions submitted through the HM Land Registry portal or Business Gateway — a 55% reduction compared with the postal fee — but there is no reduction for transfers of part, or for lease registrations submitted electronically. Voluntary first registrations also attract a minimum 25% reduction. Statutory HM Land Registry fees are not subject to VAT.

Because fees depend on transaction value, application type, and submission method, and are set by statutory instrument, use HM Land Registry's fee calculator to confirm the exact amount before you submit — sending the wrong fee is a common cause of delay. Some applications, such as discharging a registered charge or registering the death of a proprietor, are exempt from fee altogether.

Priority protection: using OS1/OS2 searches with your AP1

If you rely only on the date you post or upload your AP1, someone else could register a competing interest against the same title in the gap between your search and your application landing. That is what an official search with priority is for.

Conveyancers typically run an official search of whole (form OS1) or official search of part (form OS2) against the title before lodging the AP1. Under rule 131 of the Land Registration Rules 2003, entering that search on HM Land Registry's day list opens a priority period of 30 working days. As long as you lodge the protected AP1 application within that period and quote the search reference in panel 4, your application takes priority over most other entries made against the title during that window. Full detail on how these searches work sits in Practice guide 12: official searches.

It is worth understanding, separately, that your legal interest is actually protected from the moment HM Land Registry receives a valid application — not from the (often much later) date it completes processing. The priority search protects you against competing applications made before yours arrives; receipt itself protects you against anything that happens after.

How and where to submit Form AP1

Most professional users submit AP1 electronically through the HM Land Registry portal or Business Gateway, which is generally faster and, for many whole-title applications, cheaper than post. Private individuals without portal access submit the current PDF or Word version of the form, downloaded from GOV.UK, by post to HM Land Registry's standard address, together with the fee and supporting documents.

Payment can be made by cheque or postal order (made payable to "HM Land Registry"), or by direct debit if you hold a Business e-services account. If paying by cheque, write the amount in words and figures, date it in full, sign it, and note the title number or property address on the back to help HM Land Registry match it to your application.

Common mistakes that delay or reject an AP1 application

HM Land Registry's own data shows that nearly 20% of applications attract at least one requisition — a formal query the registry raises when information is missing, incomplete, or wrongly drawn — and it estimates that close to half of all requisitions could have been avoided. The most common causes, drawn from HM Land Registry's own guidance, include:

• Title number errors. The number in panel 2 must match the register exactly.
• Name mismatches. Names on the transfer or charge that don't match the names already on the register, or don't match each other, are a leading cause of requisitions.
• Deeds not properly executed. Missing signatures, witnesses, or dates on the transfer, mortgage, or other deed being lodged.
• Missing or incomplete identity evidence for any party or the person lodging the application.
• Wrong fee. Fees are scale-based and value-dependent — check the fee calculator rather than estimating.
• Missing or expired priority search reference. If the priority period from an OS1/OS2 search has lapsed before you lodge the AP1, you lose that protection.

If a requisition is raised and you don't respond within the time HM Land Registry allows, the application can be cancelled outright, and any priority protection is lost with it.

What happens after you submit

HM Land Registry acknowledges receipt of postal applications by email where you have provided one; portal and Business Gateway applications show status online. Processing speed varies hugely by application type: HM Land Registry's published data shows roughly 30% of register-change applications are automated and complete within minutes, a further share complete within a day or a week, but over half of the remainder — including many transfers and name changes — take around 16 weeks, with most complete within about 8 months (HM Land Registry has acknowledged some are taking around 10 months). If delay would genuinely put a sale or other transaction at risk, HM Land Registry offers a free expedite service; the great majority of expedited applications are processed within 10 working days. Once complete, HM Land Registry updates the register and, where relevant, sends confirmation to the address given in panel 7.

Getting help with your AP1

This guide provides general information about how Form AP1 works in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific transaction. HM Land Registry's own guidance is clear that land registration is complex and that errors can have significant consequences — its "making an application without legal representation" guidance is worth reading before deciding to submit without a conveyancer. The position described was accurate as at August 2026 and fees, forms and processing times change; always check the current version on GOV.UK before you submit.

Last reviewed: August 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: August 2027 or on legislative change.