How to sever a joint tenancy: the notice, Form SEV and the Form A restriction

What does severing a joint tenancy change?

This guide explains how to sever a joint tenancy in England and Wales, in practice: the notice, the form, what HM Land Registry puts on your title, and what it all means for your shares and your will. If you’re still choosing how to own a home, start with our guide to joint tenants or tenants in common. This one picks up after you’ve bought.

Severing, or severance of a joint tenancy, means changing from joint tenants to tenants in common. It changes three things and leaves three alone.

What	Changes?
Survivorship	Ends
Your shares	Become equal
Who gets your share if you die	Your will decides
Names on the title	No change
The mortgage	No change
Signing to sell	Still both of you

The last three are worth knowing. Section 36(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925 says the legal title itself can’t be severed. You both stay on the deeds as owners, and you both still need to sign to sell or remortgage. What changes is the “beneficial” ownership: who is entitled to the money the home is worth. And if you’re both named on the mortgage, you both stay responsible for the payments.

The equal shares part catches people out. Advicenow says severing turns your joint tenancy into a tenancy in common in equal shares, regardless of what each of you contributed. It does not give a bigger deposit back. More on that below.

When might you want to sever, and is it fair to your partner?

The usual reasons are:

• You’ve separated. As joint tenants, if one of you dies the other owns the whole home automatically. After a break-up, many people would rather their half went to their children or family.
• You want to leave your share by will. GOV.UK is clear that joint tenants can’t pass on their ownership in a will. Tenants in common can.
• Your circumstances have changed. For example, one of you has children from a previous relationship.

Severing works both ways. If Alex severs, Alex can no longer inherit Jordan’s half automatically either. Neither of you gains a bigger share. It just means each half follows its owner’s will.

So severing when a relationship ends is legal, common and often sensible for both people. It isn’t an attack, and the other person can’t block it. But it is kinder, and usually calmer, to tell them before the notice arrives. If talking isn’t safe or possible, a solicitor can prepare and serve the notice for you.

If you’re still together and simply want different shares or your own will, talk it through first. You may find you both want the same thing, and then you can do it together.

Changing from joint tenants to tenants in common

This is how to sever a joint tenancy in practice. GOV.UK sets out two routes. Both can use Form SEV and neither has an HM Land Registry fee.

If you both agree

1. Fill in Form SEV. It is HM Land Registry’s form for registering a Form A restriction after severance.
2. Add any supporting documents the form asks for.
3. Send it to HM Land Registry’s Citizen Centre (PO Box 7806, Bilston, WV1 9QR). There’s no fee.

If you’re doing it alone

1. Write a notice of severance. Section 36(2) only asks for “a notice in writing” of your wish to sever, and sets no wording. Practical tips, not legal requirements: date it, name the property, say you are severing the joint tenancy in equity and will hold as tenants in common, and sign it.
2. Serve it properly. GOV.UK lists three ways: give it to the other owner, leave it at their last known home or business address in the UK, or send it there by registered post or recorded delivery. If there are more than two owners, serve every one of them.
3. Keep proof. Keep a copy, and the posting receipt or a note of when and where you delivered it.
4. Fill in Form SEV, or Form RX1 if you can’t provide the evidence Form SEV asks for.
5. Include the evidence. Either the notice signed by all the owners (the original or a certified copy), or a letter certifying how you served it.
6. Send it to the Citizen Centre. There’s no fee.

A conveyancer or solicitor can do any of this for you, and will charge for their time. HM Land Registry’s practice guide 24 says a conveyancer applying for you would certify that the notice was served under sections 36(2) and 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925, the sections on notices and how to serve them.

When does the severance take effect?

The notice is what severs. Section 36(2) says that once a joint tenant gives the notice, “thereupon” the land is held as if the joint tenancy had been severed. HM Land Registry’s practice guide treats the Form A application as a step that follows severance.

Three practical points follow.

• Leaving it counts. Section 196(3) says a notice is sufficiently served if it is left at the other owner’s last known home or business address in the UK.
• Returned post doesn’t count. Section 196(4) treats a registered letter as served only if it is not returned undelivered. If it comes back, serve it again another way.
• Don’t skip the form. HM Land Registry’s guide says that once a joint tenancy has been severed, an owner must apply for a Form A restriction. Until it is entered, the register still looks like a joint tenancy.

What is a Form A restriction, and what does it do?

A Form A restriction is the standard entry HM Land Registry adds to the register when owners hold as tenants in common. It reads:

“No disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate (except a trust corporation) under which capital money arises is to be registered unless authorised by an order of the court.”

In plain English: one owner on their own can’t sell the home and take the money. Sale money has to be paid to at least two trustees (or a trust corporation). That protects the share of an owner who has died, or whose share belongs to someone else.

What it doesn’t do is show your shares. HM Land Registry keeps the details of trusts off the register as far as possible, so your title will show the restriction but not “50/50” or “deposits back first”. Our guide to the declaration of trust explains where shares are written down instead.

How to check your register

Download your title register from HM Land Registry. It costs £7 online, or £11 for an official copy you can use as proof, for example in court. Look in the proprietorship register for the wording above.

• No Form A restriction: you are probably joint tenants.
• A Form A restriction: you are probably tenants in common, but not certainly. HM Land Registry’s blog says it can be added for other reasons, or by default when the ownership type wasn’t clear.

For the definite answer, look at panel 10 of your TR1 transfer form, which your conveyancer should have.

If one of you dies after severing

With a Form A restriction, the surviving owner can’t sell on their own. HM Land Registry’s practice guide says only the beneficial share of the owner who died passes under their will or intestacy, and the person dealing with their estate can’t sign alongside the survivor unless they are formally appointed as a trustee. So a second trustee needs to be appointed before a sale. If the survivor has become the only beneficial owner, they can instead apply to cancel the restriction. A solicitor can help with either.

What happens in practice? A worked example

Alex and Jordan are not married. They bought a £300,000 home as joint tenants. Alex put in a £40,000 deposit and Jordan £10,000, with a £250,000 joint mortgage. A few years later they separate. Alex has a child from a previous relationship and wants Alex’s share to go to them.

Step	What happens
Alex tells Jordan	They talk it through first
Notice served	Alex hands Jordan a signed notice
Form SEV sent	With a letter certifying service. No fee
Form A entered	The register now matches

What if Alex dies? It depends on timing.

If Alex dies	Who gets Alex's half
Before the notice is served	Jordan owns the whole home
After it's served, with a will	Whoever Alex's will names
After it's served, no will	Alex's relatives, not Jordan

The last row is why a will matters. An unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules, so after severing, a share with no will passes under those rules, usually to relatives. The same is now true of Jordan’s half if Jordan dies.

Now say they sell for £330,000 with £230,000 of mortgage left, leaving £100,000.

What's in place	Alex gets	Jordan gets
Severed, nothing else signed	£50,000	£50,000
Both sign: deposits back first	£65,000	£35,000

Illustration only. Ignores selling costs, tax and who paid what towards the mortgage.

Severing gives equal shares, so £50,000 each. If they both agree that each deposit should come back first, with the rest split equally, they need a declaration of trust signed by both. Alex can’t get to £65,000 by severing alone, and Jordan doesn’t lose anything Jordan hasn’t agreed to. Try your own numbers in the deposit split calculator.

Can you change back, or set unequal shares?

Back to joint tenants. GOV.UK says you need the agreement of all the owners. You sign a new or updated trust deed, then apply on Form RX3 to cancel the Form A restriction, with evidence that you all now own as joint tenants. There’s no fee.

Unequal shares. Severing can’t create them. If you both agree on shares such as 80/20, or a formula like deposits back first, record it in a declaration of trust you both sign. Once signed, the courts treat a clear one as conclusive unless you both agree a change, or in rare cases such as fraud or mistake. A solicitor can draw one up and check whether your register already has a Form A restriction.

Splitting up. If you’re separating, severing is only one piece. Who stays, how one of you buys the other out and when you sell all need agreeing too. Our guide to what happens to the house if you split up covers that.

What should you do next?

1. Check your register. Download your title register for £7 and look for a Form A restriction, then check panel 10 of your TR1 if you’re unsure.
2. Talk to the other owner, if it’s safe. If you both agree, you can apply together on Form SEV.
3. If you’re doing it alone, write a signed notice, serve it in one of the ways GOV.UK lists, and keep proof.
4. Send Form SEV (or RX1) with your evidence to the HM Land Registry Citizen Centre. There’s no fee.
5. Make or update your will, so your share goes where you want. Without one, an unmarried partner doesn’t inherit.
6. Write down any unequal shares in a declaration of trust you both sign. If you’re still together, a couples agreement (also called a cohabitation agreement) can cover the rest: bills, the mortgage and what happens if you split. CoHabit’s free 10-minute conversation helps you agree it side by side; see how your agreement counts for the steps that help courts take it into account. Start free, together.
7. See a solicitor if you’re separating, the other owner disputes the notice, a notice came back undelivered, someone has died, or family money or children from a previous relationship are involved.

For your wider rights as an unmarried couple, read unmarried couples’ rights in the UK.