Probate, court, Land Registry and planning fees

How much are the fees now?

amount null because banded. Fee 1.1 was not among the Civil Proceedings fees changed by SI 2026/642 (its Table 2 starts at fee 1.4). Date the current bands took effect not verified.

amount null because banded. Portal/Business Gateway (whole title): £20 (up to £80k), £40 (£80,001-£100k), £100 (£100,001-£200k), £150 (£200,001-£500k), £295 (£500,001-£1m), £500 (over £1m). By post: £45/£95/£230/£330/£655/£1,105. Before 31 Jan 2022 postal fees were £40/£80/£190/£270/£540/£910 (gov.uk 'Fees review 2021 to 2022'). The brief's '£20-£910' mixes current portal and pre-2022 postal figures.

Checked 22 September 2026. Source: HM Courts & Tribunals Service (Ministry of Justice). Checked by hand 22 September 2026.

How have the fees moved?

Prices from CPIH, as of 1 August 2026. Source: Office for National Statistics.

What are the fees meant to cover?

The Lord Chancellor may set some court fees above the cost of the service, under section 180 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, as long as the extra is spent on the courts and tribunals. Money claims and divorce are charged this way; probate is set to recover cost.

HM Land Registry is required by the Treasury to cover its costs from fees over a period of years, and its fees for registering a purchase have been unchanged since January 2022.

Planning fees in England were raised sharply in April 2025 and now rise with inflation each April. They go to the local planning authority, and still do not cover the cost of deciding many applications.

• Probate application fee, estate over £5,000 (England & Wales): MoJ/HMCTS (19 June 2026): 'An increase to the probate application fee to £526. This recovers the cost of an ever-improving service, and the new cost accounts for rising inflation as well as investment in delivering an efficient and modern service.' No fee if the estate is £5,000 or less. Extra copies ordered with the application cut from £16 to £2.
• Divorce / dissolution / nullity application fee (England & Wales): HMCTS ARA 2024-25: 'Section 180 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives the Lord Chancellor, with consent of HMT, the statutory power to set certain court and tribunal fees above cost recovery levels. The income generated must be reinvested back into the courts and tribunals service. Government introduced enhanced fee charging for money claims on 9 March 2015, and further enhanced fees including divorce, civil and some tribunals in March, April and July 2016.' Overall, fee income covered only part of the cost of the fee-charging jurisdictions (2024-25 shortfall £373.8m). Divorce is named among the fees 'enhanced' in 2016.

• HM Land Registry Scale 1 fee - registering a transfer of a whole title (e.g. a purchase): EM to SI 2024/931: 'HM Treasury (HMT) currently requires HMLR to ensure that its fee income covers its operational and investment costs over a number of years.' Scale fees unchanged since 31 Jan 2022. HMLR ARA 2025-26: statutory registration of title income £473.5m vs cost £471.2m.
• Official copy of a title register - electronic: EM to SI 2024/931: 'This instrument applies a flat rate increase of £4 to information services fees. This is expected to generate additional income of around £119m per year.' The rise was agreed with HMT to fund HMLR's overall budget, not tied to the cost of the copy; information fees 'have not increased since 2009'. 'covers' is an interpretation, not HMLR's own label.

• Householder planning application - enlarging or altering a single house (England): EM to SI 2025/342: 'Planning application fees provide local planning authorities with an income which contributes towards the costs of providing a planning service. However, these fees do not fully cover the overall costs of the planning application (development management) service.' Estimated overall shortfall £362 million (2023-24 data). Fees now index to September CPI every 1 April (capped at 10%) under the 2023 amendment regulations. The rise to £528 'is estimated to be the cost for local planning authorities to determine these applications.'

• Non-Contentious Probate Fees Order 2004 (SI 2004/3120), fee 1, as amended by the Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2026 (SI 2026/642); commencement moved to 13 July 2026 by SI 2026/665
• Family Proceedings Fees Order 2008 (SI 2008/1054), as amended by SI 2025/351 and SI 2026/642
• Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 (SI 2008/1053), Sch 1 fee 1.1
• Land Registration Fee Order 2024 (SI 2024/931), in force 9 Dec 2024, replacing the 2021 Order; scale fees carried over unchanged
• Land Registration Fee Order 2024 (SI 2024/931)
• Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/2920), as amended incl. the 2023 amendment regulations (indexation) and SI 2025/342
• Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications...) (England) Regulations 2012, Sch 1

Who receives the money?

Are the fees fair?