Applying for a certificate
Select one of the links below to download and print an application form for a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate:
Making an application
If the event occurred within the Royal Borough and you would like to obtain a certified copy of a certificate from this office then you have three options:
- Application in person: you may pay by cash or credit/debit card here at the Kensington and Chelsea Register Office. Please note: we are not able to accept American Express.
- Application by post: if your application is made from within the UK then you should enclose a letter/application form containing all the relevant details, a cheque or postal order made payable to ‘R.B.K.& C.’ and a stamped addressed envelope. Please do not send cash by post. Please note: if you are applying by post from outside the UK then you may only pay by cheque, drawn on a bank with branches in the UK or by international money order, in pounds sterling, made payable to ‘R.B.K.& C.’
- Application by telephone: you should contact this office on 020 7361 4100 (international dialling code: 0044) during our opening hours. Please note: we are not able to accept American Express.
With a standard application, certificates will be available for collection or posting at 09.00 the next working day.
If you have an urgent application, we have a same day service whereby certificates may be collected within one hour of ordering upon payment of an additional search fee of £10.00.
Our opening hours for applications in person and by telephone are 09.00 - 12.30 and 14.00 - 16.00 Monday to Friday (14.00 - 19.00 Thurs).
Fees
Certificate fees
| Short Birth Certificates (when issued from a register currently in use) |
£3.50 |
| Standard Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates (when issued from a register currently in use) |
£3.50 |
| Civil Partnership Certificates (when issued on the day of registration) |
£3.50 |
| Short Birth Certificates (when issued from a vault deposited register) |
£5.50 |
| Standard Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates (when issued from a vault deposited register) |
£7.00 |
| Civil Partnership Certificates (when issued after the date of registration) |
£7.00 |
| Same day search fee |
£10.00 |
As a rule of thumb only the most recent events are recorded in current registers, all other events are recorded in registers that have been completed and archived in the vaults. If you are in doubt as to which fee will apply to your application then please feel free to contact this office and a member of staff will be happy to advise you.
The full postal address for all correspondence and applications is:
The Kensington and Chelsea Register Office
Chelsea Old Town Hall
Kings Road
Chelsea
London
SW3 5EE
Four golden rules
There are four golden rules which help us to help you!
- We need as much information as possible about the register entry of which you need a copy. Simply put, you can never give us too much information in an application - the more you tell us the better chance we have of finding the record you require. You are welcome to download one of the application forms from this site and use it in your application.
Please note however, if you have a reference from the General Register Office this serves no purpose at a local register office as the national index is entirely different from those held locally. Registration Officers have had written instructions from the Deputy Registrar General that applicants quoting the GRO reference should be referred to the General Register Office direct and any applications we receive with a GRO reference will, regrettably, be returned unsearched.
- If you are making applications for multiple certificates (for example, one birth and two marriage certificates) then it will speed the administration if you can include a separate cheque for each and every application. If we are unable to find an entry we will simply return your unused cheques to you.
- Always include a stamped addressed envelope for return as this guarantees the correct address and postcode on the envelope ensuring your application does not go astray.
- Please bear in mind that family research will not take priority over more urgent applications such as birth certificates for passport applications, marriage certificates for legal purposes, etc. unless you are using our same day service. A standard ancestral research application can sometimes take as long as three weeks to process.
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