Registering a Matrimonial Home Rights Charge

If as a spouse or a civil partner, you do not legally own a share of the property you live in with your respective spouse or civil partner, you can protect your potential share in the property by way of registering a notice known as the ‘Matrimonial Home Rights Charge’.

This will be registered with the Land Registry against the particular property and prevent it from being sold, transferred, or re-mortgaged without your agreement. The notice cannot be removed until a financial settlement is either agreed by you or ordered by the Court.

What are Matrimonial Home Rights.

‘Matrimonial Home Rights’ is the name given to a collection of statutory rights which seek to protect a spouse in occupation of the matrimonial home. The rights are extended to civil partners by the Civil Partnership Act 2004.
The rights provided include:

– the right of a non-owning spouse or civil partner to occupy the matrimonial home, and to enforce the same by what are called ‘occupation orders’.
– the right that in certain circumstances one spouse’s rights of occupation shall be a charge on the estate of the other, and that subject to registration; such a charge can bind third parties, including mortgagees.
– a number of procedural provisions which seek to protect the non-owning spouse in occupation in the event of proceedings for possession by a mortgagee.