Asked to leave the family home? Home rights, HR1 and occupation orders
Being told to leave — or coming home to changed locks — is the most disorienting moment of separation. What you can do depends on one question: what is your legal relationship to the home?
Your position in one table
| Your situation | Your rights | Immediate action |
|---|---|---|
| Married/civil partner — home in her name | Home rights under s.30 FLA 1996: occupy + not to be excluded without a court order | Register Form HR1 (free) — see below |
| Married — joint owners/tenants | Equal right to occupy; neither may exclude the other without an occupation order | HR1 anyway; document any lock-change attempt |
| Cohabiting — her sole name | No automatic home rights | Legal advice fast; occupation order is the only re-entry route |
| Rented — joint tenancy | Both are tenants; both liable for rent | Notify the landlord in writing that you remain a tenant and liable |
Registering home rights (HR1) — free, fast, powerful
- Download Form HR1 GOV.UK: HR1. You need the property's title number (findable via Land Registry's search; the full register costs £7 if you want a copy).
- Complete and post — no fee HM Land Registry Citizen Centre, PO Box 74, Gloucester GL14 9BB. Free. Protection runs from receipt of the valid application — not from processing (weeks later).
- Effect Registers a notice protecting your home rights so the home cannot be sold or remortgaged without your knowledge; protection runs from the date the valid application is received. She will be notified by the Land Registry after registration — expect the conversation; that is the point.
- Unregistered property Older/unregistered titles use a Class F land charge on Form K2 instead — same free protection, different office. If the property is not registered, the equivalent protection is a Class F land charge on Form K2.
Occupation orders — the s.33 balance of harm
A married person can ask the court for an occupation order regulating who lives in the home. Where the applicant has no existing right to occupy (e.g. her sole name, your marriage), the court applies the s.33(7) balance-of-harm test: the housing needs and resources of both parties, the financial position, the effect of any order on health, safety or well-being — and if harm to either party (or the children) is in play, the court must choose the least-damaging exercise of its powers. Practical consequence: a father with nowhere decent to take the children overnight has a real argument; a father who left voluntarily months ago has a harder one.
Left "voluntarily" under pressure? Record why: the argument, the threat, the police attendance — dated. "Voluntary" departure is often really constructive exclusion, and the log is what proves it.
Money while you are out
- Your mortgage/rent liability continues — arrears damage credit and credibility alike.
- Payments you make toward the household while excluded are evidence of child-focus — document every one.
- The long-term division of the home happens in financial remedy — Form E preparation and the s.25 MCA 1973 factors.
Nowhere to stay tonight? The council's homelessness duty is real — apply via GOV.UK, in writing, and keep the reference. Local options are on our town pages.
Before your hearing
Turning scattered messages, notes and dates into evidence takes structure. apply this guide to your own documents — EvidenceCanvas is a guided toolkit that helps you draft a child-focused witness statement, answer a Scott Schedule point by point, and assemble a paginated court bundle. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.