Form 236 Application for Release of Security: Eligibility, Filing, and Approval

Fannie Mae Form 236, the Application for Release of Security, is the form you submit to your mortgage servicer when you want to release, partially release, or alter the property that secures a Fannie Mae-owned loan. You complete the borrower sections describing what you want to do and the financial terms, attach a survey, a current property valuation, and the proposed transaction documents, and send the package to your servicer. The servicer either approves it directly or forwards it to Fannie Mae, depending on the post-release loan-to-value ratio and other eligibility checks.¹

When Form 236 Applies

The form covers a defined list of changes to the real estate backing your mortgage: a partial release of land, releasing or granting an easement, leasing oil, gas, or mineral rights, adding adjacent land to the security, partitioning or subdividing the property, leasing part of the property for a wind turbine or cellular base station, and documenting a condemnation or eminent domain taking.¹

Form 236 is not the right tool when you pay off the mortgage in full. A full payoff triggers a separate lien-release process handled under Fannie Mae’s rules for satisfying the mortgage and recording the release.²

Whether You Qualify Before You File

For a partial release of real property, the servicer screens the loan against five conditions before anything else happens. Miss any one of them and the servicer must deny the request; there is no discretionary override.¹

The mortgage must be current at the time of the request.
The loan must have been originated more than 12 months before the application date.
In the past 12 months, you cannot have been more than 30 days late more than once, and the loan cannot have been in default for any other reason.
The release cannot jeopardize Fannie Mae’s first-lien position on the remaining property.
The release cannot leave the remaining property without access to a public road.

The LTV Threshold That Drives the Decision

Even when the five conditions are satisfied, the post-release loan-to-value ratio controls what the servicer can do. The servicer estimates the market value of the property that will remain after the release and recalculates the LTV. If the post-release LTV falls below 60%, the servicer can approve on Fannie Mae’s behalf without additional conditions. If it reaches 60% or higher, the servicer can still approve, but you must agree to pay down the unpaid principal enough to bring the LTV to the lower of your pre-release ratio or 60%.¹

That paydown can be substantial. Run the arithmetic before you submit: estimated remaining property value divided into your current unpaid balance. If the parcel you want to keep is worth less per acre than the parcel you’re selling, the ratio can jump above 60% even when your overall equity looks strong.

Easement requests follow a parallel analysis. The servicer weighs the effect on value and applies the same LTV thresholds, and must decline outright if releasing a beneficial easement would damage the future use or marketability of the property.¹

Filling Out the Form

The form is two pages. You complete page one and the agreement at the bottom; your servicer fills in the analysis on page two. The current version is available on Fannie Mae’s single-family website.³

Page One: Who You Are and What You Want

Start with your Fannie Mae loan number, servicer loan number, full name, and mailing address. List any co-borrowers, endorsers, or guarantors with their addresses. Enter the property address exactly as it appears on your mortgage documents.⁴

Then specify the type of release and describe its purpose. Be concrete. If you’re selling a back lot to a neighbor, say so and describe how the lot will be used. If you’re granting a utility easement, explain how it will restrict the remaining property. If you’re leasing mineral rights, identify the lessee and the scope of the lease.

The form asks for three measurements in square footage or acreage: total property before the release, property to be released, and property to be retained. Below those, you report the financial terms of the transaction:

Cash consideration you expect to receive.
Your costs to obtain the release, including survey fees, legal costs, and recording charges.
Any property improvement or restoration expenses.
The amount of net proceeds you’re willing to apply to the unpaid principal balance.

That last figure feeds directly into the servicer’s LTV analysis, so match it to what the paydown rule will actually require.

Page Two: Loan Status and Servicer Analysis

Page two covers the loan’s current standing: unpaid principal balance, number of delinquent payments, whether the loan is in foreclosure, and the 12-month delinquency history. If the loan carries mortgage insurance, the form asks whether the MI company has approved the release. You may need to secure that approval before you submit.⁴

The servicer handles the valuation block: original LTV, current LTV, combined LTV if there’s a second mortgage, occupancy status, and the basis for the current valuation. The servicer then recommends what should happen with the transaction proceeds: apply them to the unpaid principal, apply them to past-due payments, or let you keep them.

The Borrower Agreement

At the bottom you sign a statement acknowledging that Fannie Mae may, at its option, apply transaction proceeds to taxes, insurance, improvement costs, or the mortgage balance. Every statement on the form is treated as a representation made to induce Fannie Mae to approve the request. A misstatement can give the servicer grounds to reverse an approval, so verify your numbers and descriptions before signing.⁴

What to Attach

A bare form will not be reviewed. The specific attachments vary by request type, but most packages include:

A property survey or plat map showing the proposed division, the portion to be released, and the portion to be retained.
A current property valuation. The servicer sets the type, which can range from a broker price opinion to a full appraisal depending on the loan amount and the servicer’s requirements.
A copy of the proposed transaction documents: the purchase agreement for a land sale, the draft easement language, or the mineral-rights lease.
MI company approval, if your loan carries mortgage insurance.

For an eminent domain matter, include the condemnation notice, the proposed compensation, and any legal filings. For a subdivision or partition, include the proposed recorded plat and evidence that zoning requirements are satisfied. Submit a complete package the first time; incomplete submissions get sent back.

Where to Send It

You submit the completed form to your mortgage servicer, not directly to Fannie Mae. Contact the servicer’s loss-mitigation or property department to confirm whether they want mail, a portal upload, or email.¹

The servicer then decides whether the request is delegated (they can approve it themselves) or non-delegated (Fannie Mae must review). Requests that clear the LTV and eligibility thresholds are generally delegated. When the servicer must escalate, they forward Form 236 and the supporting documents to Fannie Mae’s Loss Mitigation group at partial_releases@fanniemae.com.⁴

Fannie Mae reviews each submission individually and sends any follow-up questions back through the servicer. Keep copies of the form, the attachments, and all correspondence. A single request can take multiple rounds before reaching a decision.

After Approval

Approval of the Form 236 does not by itself release the property from the mortgage. The release still has to be documented and recorded in the local land records.⁵

If Fannie Mae is the mortgagee of record and the servicer lacks power of attorney to sign on Fannie Mae’s behalf, the servicer sends the release documents to Fannie Mae for execution. If Fannie Mae is not the mortgagee of record, the servicer executes the release in its own name, or in MERS’ name for MERS-registered loans, and handles the recording. Either way, confirm with your servicer that the partial release has been recorded with the county recorder’s office. An unrecorded release can create title problems later.

Why Requests Get Denied or Delayed

A delinquency within the past 12 months produces an automatic denial, and the servicer has no discretion to override it. Loans less than 12 months old are similarly ineligible regardless of equity.

On the documentation side, an incomplete form gets returned rather than reviewed. Missing surveys, vague descriptions of the proposed transaction, or blank financial fields all stall the process. If the loan has mortgage insurance and you haven’t obtained the MI company’s consent, the servicer pauses until that approval arrives.

The LTV calculation catches some borrowers off guard. Strong overall equity does not help if the retained parcel is worth significantly less per acre than the parcel being released, because the post-release ratio can climb above 60% and trigger the principal-reduction requirement. Any release that would leave the remaining property landlocked or compromise Fannie Mae’s lien priority is a non-starter. If you plan to solve a landlocking problem with a new access easement, include the draft easement with the application so the servicer can evaluate both pieces together.

1
Fannie Mae. Evaluating a Request for the Release, or Partial Release, of Property Securing a Mortgage Loan
2
Fannie Mae. Satisfying the Mortgage Loan and Releasing the Lien
3
Fannie Mae. Application for Release of Security
4
Mr. Cooper. Application for Release of Security (Form 236)
5
Fannie Mae. Evaluating a Request for the Release, or Partial Release, of Property Securing a Mortgage Loan