A person whose spouse or civil partner owns the couple’s home in his/her sole name can register their ‘home rights’ at the Land Registry. The effect of doing this is that the property cannot be sold, because any prospective purchaser will insist on the home rights notice being cleared off the register before proceeding. This protects the non-owning spouse or civil partner. When financial matters have been agreed, the home rights notice is no longer needed and is cancelled.

Until civil partnerships were created, ‘home rights’ were known as ‘matrimonial home rights’ and that expression is still sometimes used.