Can I Sell Part of My Land, or Sign an Option, If It Is Mortgaged?

A mortgage of land is, in legal terms, a charge: the lender lends money and takes a right over the land as security for it. When the land is registered, the charge is entered on your title at HM Land Registry and becomes a registered charge. The lender does not own your land, but its charge covers every square metre of the title it was taken over, not just the house or the part you think of as mortgaged.

That is the whole reason the lender has a say. If you sell a field out of a mortgaged title, the buyer expects to receive it free of your debt. Only the lender can lift its charge from that field, and it will do so only once it is content that the land you keep still gives it enough security for what you owe. The legal step that lifts the charge from part of the land is called a partial release, or a release of part, and the document that does it is often called a deed of release.

Where the mortgage sits is shown in the charges register of your title, the third part of the register, which names each lender with a charge and the date of it. If you are not sure what your title shows, our guide on how to check exactly what land you own explains how to read each part of the register.

The Mortgage Terms

Mortgages commonly contain a promise by the borrower not to sell, let or grant rights over the mortgaged property without the lender's written consent. The wording varies from lender to lender, but the published conditions of Legal and General's lifetime mortgages (2026 Edition 1) are a clear example. Under condition 6.2, the borrower must not, without our prior written consent (which we will act reasonably in granting or refusing), sell or create any lease or tenancy over all or any part of the property, or grant or allow any right over all or any part of it.

Two points in that wording are worth understanding. First, "any part" means a field or a strip of garden is caught just as much as the whole. Second, this lender binds itself to act reasonably when deciding, which means the request is weighed on its merits rather than refused out of hand.

The Restriction on the Register

A lender may also back the promise with a restriction. A restriction is an entry in the proprietorship register, the second part of your title, and HM Land Registry's practice guide on notices and restrictions explains that restrictions prohibit the making of an entry in respect of a disposition, or of a disposition of a specified kind. A disposition is any dealing with the land, such as a sale, a lease or a new charge.

The restriction lenders use most is a standard form known as Form P. HM Land Registry's practice guide on registering legal charges states plainly that most chargee restrictions are in Form P, a chargee being the lender, and it treats the lender's consent as something the Registry looks for before registering a dealing. The guide on restrictions adds that where a restriction calls for consent, the consent should agree expressly to the registration of the dealing, not just to the dealing itself. So even if a buyer and seller agreed to leave the lender out, the sale could not be completed at the Registry.

The same guide on restrictions makes a point that matters for options: none of the standard form restrictions prevent the mere entry of a notice. A notice is how an option is usually recorded on a title, so a Form P restriction does not by itself block the option being noted. Where the lender's agreement to an option is needed, it comes from the promises in the mortgage, not from the restriction.

The Power of Sale Behind It

Behind both sits the lender's power of sale, which is what makes the charge worth having. If a loan is not repaid, a lender can sell the charged land. Section 104 of the Law of Property Act 1925 provides that a mortgagee selling under that power can convey the property freed from all estates, interests, and rights to which the mortgage has priority, but subject to those which have priority to the mortgage. Put simply, anything that ranks behind the mortgage can be swept away by a lender's sale. That point matters for options, and the section on priority below comes back to it.

For registered land the release has a set form. HM Land Registry's practice guide on discharges of charges, updated in June 2026, states that a release of part of the land in a registered title from a registered charge must be made in form DS3. The land released must be identified on an accompanying plan or by reference to the title plan, and any plan used has to be signed by or on behalf of the lender.

The same guide explains a practical difference from repaying a whole mortgage. When a mortgage is paid off in full, a lender can send the discharge to the Registry electronically. That is not possible for part of a title: the guide states that an electronic discharge can only be sent for a discharge of the whole. A release of part therefore goes through on a signed DS3, which your solicitor obtains from the lender and sends to the Registry with the buyer's application to register the sale.

Restrictions need attention too. The guide explains that when a whole charge is discharged, a restriction which specifically refers to it is generally cancelled, while one that does not needs a separate withdrawal on form RX4, or it stays on the register. A release of part is handled differently: where a charge is released from part of a title without that part being transferred, the guide says a note will normally be added to the lender's restriction to show that it does not affect the part released. Your solicitor checks the wording of each entry so that nothing is left behind on the land sold.

1. The plan is drawn. The land being sold is marked on a plan to Land Registry standards, the same plan that will go with the transfer to the buyer.
2. Your solicitor asks the lender. The request explains what is being sold, gives the plan and the price, and asks on what terms the lender will release that part.
3. The lender assesses its security. Lenders commonly instruct a valuation of what will remain after the sale, and the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation's tariff, for one, lists that valuation as an item separate from its release fee. The lender then works out whether the loan is still well covered.
4. The lender sets its terms. It confirms whether any of the sale money must be paid to it and states its own fee for the release.
5. The DS3 is signed. The lender signs form DS3 and the plan once it is satisfied, and any sum it has asked for is paid to it from the sale money on completion.
6. The Registry records the release. The part sold leaves the charge and passes to the buyer clear of your mortgage. Your house and any land you keep stay charged on the same terms as before.

Unregistered land, still found on family farms, works on the same principle: the lender still has to agree before the part sold can pass free of its mortgage. Form DS3 is for registered titles, and HM Land Registry's guide notes that for a charge over unregistered land it will accept a receipt endorsed on the mortgage deed as proof of discharge. Our guide on land that has never been registered explains how the deeds themselves are read.

A lender asked for a release is looking at one thing: whether the property it keeps a charge over is still worth enough, after the sale, to cover what is owed with a comfortable margin. That margin is often described as the loan to value, the loan as a share of the property's value. If selling a paddock barely changes the value of a house with a modest mortgage, a lender may release it without asking for anything from the sale. If the land being sold carries a large part of the value, or the loan is already high, the lender may ask for some or all of the sale money to reduce the debt.

FSP, a firm of solicitors, puts this as one of the first things a farming family should find out before selling part of a holding: whether the lender is prepared to release the relevant part of the land from their security, and how much will need to be repaid in order to obtain the release. That figure shapes what the sale leaves in your hands, so it is worth knowing early.

Lenders charge for this work, and each publishes its own fees. The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, a specialist farm lender, sets them out in its Business Tariff, form AMC0003 dated July 2026.

Two things in that tariff are useful to any owner, whoever the lender is. The fee for the release itself is only part of the cost, because a valuation and the legal fees on both sides come on top. And consent to an option has its own line, priced separately from the release that comes later: the tariff treats both as ordinary changes to an existing loan.

Home lenders use the same idea under a standard name. Cumberland Building Society's tariff of mortgage charges, effective from 1 July 2026, lists a partial release of property fee, which it calls release of security, for removing part of the property or land from the mortgage. Its figure is £75, covering the administration of sealing the legal deed and issuing letters of consent, and the society says it may ask for an up to date valuation before it considers a release. The amounts differ widely between lenders, which is why your own lender's tariff is the one that counts.

An option agreement gives a buyer the right to buy the land later, once a condition such as planning permission is met, at a price agreed now. A conditional contract is a binding sale that completes once its condition is satisfied. Both are dealings with the land, and both are usually protected by an entry on your title. A mortgage condition that forbids granting any right over the property without consent, like the one quoted above, catches them.

Herrington Carmichael, a firm of solicitors, includes this among its practical points for landowners: if your property is mortgaged, it will be prudent to consider whether your lender's consent is required before entering into an option agreement with a developer. Whether consent is needed depends on the wording of your own mortgage. The lifetime mortgage conditions quoted above need it for any right over any part of the property, and the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation lists consent to an option as a standard item with a published fee.

Asking for consent at the start does not mean paying anything off the loan. Nothing is sold when an option is signed, so no part of the land leaves the charge and no release is needed yet. The lender is being asked to agree that the right may be granted. The release, and any repayment the lender asks for, belong to completion, when the land is actually sold.

With us, the practical side is simple. If your land is mortgaged, your lender may need to consent to the option, and your solicitor contacts them, so it helps to find your mortgage paperwork early. Our solicitors register the option on your title. Day to day, nothing changes: you keep owning and using the land exactly as before, and you keep paying your mortgage as normal. The fuller picture of the agreement itself is in our guide to option agreements, and the difference between an option and a binding conditional sale is set out in our guide to conditional contracts.

Priority decides whose right wins if two rights over the same land ever clash. The Land Registration Act 2002 sets the rules for registered land in sections 28 to 30. Section 28 is the basic rule: except as sections 29 and 30 provide, the priority of an interest affecting a registered estate or charge is not affected by a disposition of the estate or charge. In ordinary words, rights rank in the order they were created, and later dealings do not jump the queue.

Section 29 deals with the main exception. When a registrable disposition, such as a sale or a new mortgage, is made for value and completed by registration, it has the effect of postponing to the interest under the disposition any earlier interest whose priority is not protected at that time. An interest is protected if, among other things, it is a registered charge or the subject of a notice on the register. Section 30 applies the same rule to dealings with a registered charge itself.

Put those rules side by side and the position for mortgaged land becomes clear.

The first row is the usual one for a mortgaged field, and it is where section 104 of the Law of Property Act 1925 comes in. A mortgage that ranks ahead of an option means that, if the lender ever had to sell under its power of sale, it could sell the land free of the option. For most owners that is an unlikely event, but a buyer who will put a great deal of money into planning work has to allow for it.

That is why a buyer may ask for one of two documents from your lender. The first is a consent letter, in which the lender confirms it agrees to the option being granted. The second is a deed in which the lender agrees that its charge will rank behind the option, often called a deed of postponement or deed of priority. HM Land Registry's guide on legal charges explains that, between charges, a postponement is made by a letter or a deed signed or executed by the lender whose charge is being postponed, and that where that lender has a Form P restriction, its consent is implied by its signing. Which, if either, is asked for depends on the buyer and the lender, and your solicitor deals with it.

The second row of the table also answers a question owners often ask: can I still remortgage? Yes, subject to your new lender's view, but because the option is protected by a notice, HM Land Registry's guide on notices explains that the notice will protect its priority against that of a subsequent registrable disposition. A new lender takes its charge subject to the option, which ranks ahead of it.

Farm borrowing is often secured on land. The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation's tariff, with its charges for releasing part of the security it holds and for substituting one security for another, shows loans of that kind at work. A farm loan may be secured over the farmhouse, the buildings and the fields together, so a field you want to put forward is very likely to sit inside the security, even if it is on a separate title from the house.

Three features of farm lending shape how a request for consent or release is handled:

• The lender looks at the business as well as the land. A farm loan is serviced from the business, so a lender may weigh the effect on the farm of losing the field, as well as what the remaining land is worth.
• Consents come before releases. An option, a planning agreement and a letting are each a separate consent. The AMC tariff prices consent to an option or a planning agreement as its own item, and a later release of part as another.
• Several charges may need to move. A holding with a mortgage, a bank overdraft secured by a second charge and perhaps an older family loan may carry more than one registered charge. HM Land Registry's guide on charges states that registered charges rank, as between themselves, according to the order in which they are entered on the register, and each one over the land sold has to be released.

Two related points. A second charge is a further mortgage behind the first and appears on the register in the same way, so its lender must release it too. A personal guarantee given for a farm business loan is a promise by you rather than an entry on the land, so it does not itself need releasing, though your solicitor reads the loan papers to see whether any guarantee is backed by a charge that does.

FSP's guide on selling part of a farm puts the farm lender among the first calls a family makes, alongside checking whether the land is registered. Approaching the lender before an agreement is drafted gives it time to instruct any valuation and set its terms without holding up the signing.

A lifetime mortgage is a loan secured on your home that is repaid from the sale of the home, and on the roll-up kind the interest is added to the loan rather than paid monthly. Because the lender expects to be repaid from the property, it watches closely anything that reduces what the property is worth.

Legal and General's conditions show the kind of terms involved. Besides condition 6.2, which needs the lender's prior written consent to sell or grant a right over any part of the property, condition 2.3 lists releasing part of the lender's security among the activities for which a charge can be made under its tariff. Taken together, a field in the same title as a house carrying a lifetime mortgage needs the lender's agreement both to an option and to the later sale.

What the lender is likely to ask for follows the same logic as any release: a valuation of the house and the land remaining, and a view of whether the amount owed, which grows over time on a roll-up lifetime mortgage, will still be covered. If it asks for part of the sale money towards the loan, the conditions on early repayment come into play: Legal and General's condition 12.7 warns that an early repayment charge may be payable depending on the circumstances of the repayment.

• Find your lifetime mortgage offer and the terms and conditions edition it refers to.
• Check whether the field is in the same title as the house, or in a separate title outside the mortgage.
• If it is in the same title, look for the conditions on selling part, granting rights and releasing security.
• Tell your solicitor, and the adviser who arranged the lifetime mortgage, before any agreement is signed.

Where the field is in its own title and the lifetime mortgage is secured only on the title containing the house, none of this applies, because the lender has no charge over the field.

1. A free desktop review. We look at your land from records and maps and tell you plainly whether it has a case.
2. Heads of terms. The heads of terms set out the price, any option fee, the land included and how your legal and agent fees are covered.
3. Your solicitor checks the title and the mortgage. You choose your own solicitor and land agent, and we contribute to their fees, so it costs you nothing to get it done properly. If your land is mortgaged, your lender may need to consent to the option, and your solicitor contacts them.
4. The option is signed and registered. Our solicitors register the option on your title. You keep owning and using the land, and your mortgage payments carry on as before.
5. The planning period. We pay for and run all of the planning work, at our own cost and risk. The agreement continues while any planning application or appeal is being decided.
6. Completion. Once planning permission has been secured, we complete the purchase and the agreed price is paid on completion, with milestones set out in the agreement. Your solicitor obtains the lender's release of the land sold, pays the lender any sum it has asked for, and sends the balance to you.
7. If planning is not achieved. You keep your land and owe nothing, and your mortgage is exactly as it was. If the agreement ends without a sale, the notice is removed so that your title is clear again.

Our guide on whether you need a solicitor to sell land covers what your solicitor does at each of those stages beyond the mortgage, and if you are keeping the house and putting only a field forward, our guide on keeping your house and putting the field forward covers the rights and tax relief for the land you keep.

• Download your title register and title plan, and note each title number your land falls in.
• Read the charges register: write down every lender named and the date of each charge.
• Read the proprietorship register for any restriction in favour of a lender.
• Find the mortgage offer and the general conditions it refers to, for every loan secured on the land.
• Note the lender's name, your account number and a contact for changes to the security.
• For a farm loan, list every facility secured on the holding, including any overdraft with a second charge.
• If the house carries a lifetime mortgage, find its offer and terms, and the details of the adviser who arranged it.
• Give all of it to your solicitor at the start, so the lender can be approached in good time.

If you would like to know whether your land has a case before you dig out any of this, a free desktop review is the simplest place to start.