Register a death

You should register the death within five days. The death should be registered in the borough where the person died. If you use a different register office, documents will need to be sent to the district where the person died, before certificates can be issued.

If you wish to remove a body from the country or the death has been reported to the coroner other procedures may apply. You will be informed of these when you contact the register office.

Urgent burials - Jewish and Muslim faith

On a Saturday, we are able to help you, by issuing you with the appropriate paperwork for urgent burials taking place within 24 hours. However this can only be done once we have written confirmation of the date and the time of the funeral from the funeral director - and evidence that it will take place within 24 hours. The registrar on call will inform you where the funeral director needs to send the confirmation email. If this information cannot be supplied, we will be unable to help you on Saturday and you will need to book an appointment for Monday morning. Please do not call us until the medical cause of death certificate issued by a GP or hospital doctor has been emailed to us as we will not be able to issue the burial notice without this.

Registering a death 

You are no longer able to be register via the telephone. All deaths now need to be registered face to face at Perceval house. The doctor, hospital or care home will need to send us the medical cause of death certificate electronically to enable us to arrange the registration. All doctors have been made aware of these changes. If you have been given the medical cause of death certificate, then you will need to call us on 020 8825 7330 for advice on how to proceed with the registration.

You can book an appointment below and order as many certificates as you need when booking your appointment. Please ensure that you have completed the questions form we will have sent.

At the end of the appointment, you will have a further opportunity to order certificates. We will send the funeral documentation (the green form/Form 9) directly to the funeral director.

Book an appointment to register a death

It is important that a close relative that was present at the death books the appointment as they are the preferred informant. If there was no close relative present at the death, then any other close relative can register.

Book an appointment

Who can register a death?

You can register a death if you are:

  • a close relative who was with the person when they died or during their last illness
  • a close relative of the deceased
  • someone who was present at the death
  • an occupier or administrator of the house and knew the death had occurred
  • arranging the funeral (not the funeral director) and no relatives are available.

This is a list of “close relatives” that we will accept to register the death as a qualified informant. Please be aware that any “step” or “in law” relatives have to be legally related through marriage or civil partnership and not cohabitation or common law to be described in this manner.

  • Mother
  • Father
  • Step mother
  • Step father
  • Mother-in-law
  • Father-in-law
  • Brother
  • Sister
  • Son
  • Son-in-law
  • Daughter
  • Daughter-in-law
  • Step son
  • Step daughter
  • Step sister
  • Step brother
  • Grandson
  • Granddaughter

Documents you should bring

A doctor must send the medical certificate of the cause of death electronically to the register office. This can be a family doctor or a doctor at the hospital where the person died.

If the coroner has been informed, they will tell you when to register the death.

It may be helpful to have the person's birth certificate or passport available during the appointment and a document containing their address details. This will ensure that we record the information accurately and there is no need to correct the information later. Making any amendment to the entry, once it is completed, will require a formal correction and will cost up to £90 depending on the nature of the error. Please use this form to request a correction.

What you need to tell us

We will need to know:

  • the date of death
  • where the person died
  • their full name
  • any previous names, including maiden name
  • their date of birth
  • their place of birth
  • their occupation
  • the full name and occupation or their husband or wife
  • if they were getting a state pension or other benefit

Documents you will get

The registrar will :

You can buy one or more death certificates at a cost of £11 each. Extra death certificates may be needed for:

  • probate or letters of administration 
  • bank and building society accounts 
  • insurance companies 
  • stocks and shares 
  • pensions 
  • solicitors