Copy certificates

We hold records for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships that were registered in Waltham Forest from 1837 to the present day.

We can only provide copy certificates for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships that took place in the borough.

You will need to pay online by debit/credit card. We do not accept cash.

As listed above, we charge £20 to search the register office indexes for six hours. Please contact us if you are interested in searching a record.

To help us process your application on time, please:

• Give as much information as possible: the more information we have, the easier we can find your record.
• Do not provide the General Register Office (GRO) reference as it's different to ours. Applications quoting the GRO reference may be returned unsearched or mean an additional search fee of £10.

Timings will be prioritised as follows:

• Urgent applications, such as birth certificates for passports and marriage certificates for legal purposes, will take priority over family research, unless you are using our priority service.
• A standard ancestral research application can sometimes take as long as three weeks to process.
• We cannot undertake lengthy searches. We will only make a search if you give accurate details of the registration. If a wider search is required it may be necessary for you to do a record search at the register office.

Research your family history with the help of our historical registration records. 

You can book a 6-hour slot to search the registration records for birth, marriage and death certificates. 

Please note we only have information on people who were born, died, married or joined in civil partnership in Waltham Forest. 

We charge £20 to search the register office indexes for six hours.

Please contact us at the Register Office if you are interested in searching for a record.

Certificates can be collected on weekdays from Leytonstone library, 6 Church Lane, London, E11 1HG.

If you are using our Priority Certificate service, please attend the library after 1pm on the day of collection.

If you are using our Standard Certificate service, please allow fifteen days before making your collection and visit between the hours of 9am and 5pm.