How to change your name with HM Land Registry

Use form AP1 and send it with original or certified copies of documents that link your new name to the name currently on the register. GOV.UK says you do not have to pay anything to do this (checked 24 September 2026).

Send completed forms to HM Land Registry Citizen Centre, PO Box 7806, Bilston WV1 9QR, unless the form gives a different address. GOV.UK notes that the process involves legal steps and can be complicated, and links guidance on what to consider before applying without legal representation.

For a name change supported by a deed poll, statutory declaration or statement of truth, the identity guidance lists confirmation in your new name. Check the conditions for your application before arranging verification. If you can have your identity verified by a practising conveyancer, the ID3 form page directs you to form ID1. ID3 is an alternative only when its eligibility conditions are met and you cannot use a practising conveyancer.

The current ID3 form requires verification in person. Its authorised verifier must be a medical doctor, dentist, chartered or certified accountant, regulated financial adviser, Member of Parliament or Member of the Senedd. The following conditions also apply:

• You and the verifier must each hold a current, valid full UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man passport.
• The verifier must have known you for at least one year.
• You must not be related to each other or involved in the same transaction.
• Both parts must be signed and dated no more than three months before the application is lodged.

Send a copy of each person's passport personal-details page with the application, rather than an original passport. Follow the current form's instructions for the verifier's professional registration details.

Identity sources reviewed 4 October 2026: the general name-update page still describes ID3 as remote verification, but the current form's verification block requires an in-person check and its publication history records removal of video verification on 5 February 2024. Follow the current form and form-specific guidance; ask HM Land Registry if the instructions conflict for your circumstances.

Yes: HM Land Registry's specific AP1 marriage and civil partnership guidance says to complete panels 1 to 7 and 15 for the name change. It says panel 12 (confirmation of identity) is unnecessary and panel 14 is unnecessary when you send the marriage or civil partnership certificate. If you also change your address, it asks for panel 9 and identity evidence.

This differs from the broader name-update page, which asks people applying without a solicitor or conveyancer for an identity form and former-name document. Check the specific instructions for your evidence and application before paying for an identity check; contact HM Land Registry if you are unsure which requirement applies. These marriage-route instructions were reviewed 4 October 2026.

Yes, if you apply yourself: GOV.UK says HM Land Registry will return your original documents after the register has been updated. If you use a solicitor or conveyancer, check with them whether they will return your documents.

Keep a note of what you sent and when. If another organisation needs the same original, such as DVLA or HM Passport Office, plan the order of your applications or use a certified copy where the recipient accepts one.

If you have changed your name for your affirmed gender, GOV.UK says you can use either form AP1 or form CNG; both update your name on the register in the same way. Use AP1 to send standard documents such as a deed poll, statement of truth or statutory declaration. Use CNG if you want to send more sensitive documents that show your name has changed.

With CNG you can send one document showing both names, such as a deed poll. If you do not have one, send one document showing your current name and one showing your former name, for example old and new passports or driving licences, a gender recognition certificate, a new birth certificate, a utility bill in your former name, or a letter from a UK-based medical practitioner confirming you live in your affirmed gender and use your new name. If you are sending a gender recognition certificate, write “Private and confidential” on the envelope.

Read the trans name-change guide for other privacy routes.

Send form AP1 with an original or certified copy of your final order (formerly called a decree absolute for marriages, or a dissolution order for civil partnerships). GOV.UK says you can only use the final order if it shows both your original and married names and the proceedings were taken in your original name.

If the final order does not show both names, include a copy of your marriage or civil partnership certificate, or a certificate by a conveyancer confirming the change of name. If you are returning to a name that is not shown on either certificate, you will need formal evidence such as a deed poll. See changing your name after divorce for other records.

Your previous name will still appear on documents filed with HM Land Registry before the change, and GOV.UK says previous names cannot be changed. You might be able to stop them being copied or inspected by making an exempt document application using forms EX1 and EX1A.

GOV.UK lists the cost as £25 per document for paper applications, or £12 per document for electronic applications, which only businesses and organisations such as conveyancers can make (checked 24 September 2026).

No. Updating the register changes HM Land Registry’s record only. Your mortgage lender, home insurer, council tax account and utilities hold separate records, so ask each one how it wants to be told. The free name change organiser lets you add HM Land Registry to a checklist, and the who-to-notify checklist covers the rest.

If you need a deed poll as the linking document, you can use the free template or optional personalised preparation for £14.99. Buying a document does not submit the AP1 application.