Advantageous to change to joint owners and/or declare beneficial interest

coleymc3

My fiancee and I (unmarried but co-habiting for 8 years) are considering renting out our second home which is in her name, on which the mortgage is also in her name.

We are not intentional landlords but having needed to move elsewhere 11 months ago and being unsuccessful in selling, we feel the need to take it off the market for a while before trying again. Meanwhile, my friend's partner is a letting agent and confident that she can find us a tenant.

My fiancee pays 40% tax. I am in the middle of a 5 year career break to be a stay at home dad and have no personal income.

We have received lots of conflicting advice with regard to changing the ownership from soley in my partner's name to joint names, and declaring beneficial interest in varying amounts from 50/50 to 99/1 in my favour.

I have noted that there is often very good advice on this site, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that somebody is able to clarify our position.

Fire_Fox

You really need professional advice - a financial advisor, tax accountant, solicitor. You also need consent to lease from the lender, and you would need their permission to change the ownership to joint as you would probably need to be added to the mortgage. If you have no income I suspect this will be a non-starter.

coleymc3

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You really need professional advice - a financial advisor, tax accountant, solicitor. You also need consent to lease from the lender, and you would need their permission to change the ownership to joint as you would probably need to be added to the mortgage. If you have no income I suspect this will be a non-starter.

Thanks FF for confirming my worst fears. Namely, that our situation is super-complicated. Consent from lender has been secured, however, so it's just the question of whether my name has to be on the mortgage in addition to the title deeds. I agree with you that this might prove problematic... Even then, there's the issue of whether we would qualify for a declaration of beneficial interest in my favour...

getmore4less

After 11 months of it sitting empty earning nothing, a bit of tax on the surplus rent should not be a big issue.

Definately needs some pro advise, along with IHT and will planning if not allready done, if you have kids.

coleymc3

getmore4less wrote: »

After 11 months of it sitting empty earning nothing, a bit of tax on the surplus rent should not be a big issue.

Definately needs some pro advise, along with IHT and will planning if not allready done, if you have kids.

Thanks for your thoughts. Who best to get pro advice from? Accountant? Solicitor? We did have a free initial consultation with an accountant which suggested it was all straightforward, but perhaps we need to go back for a paid session?

Forgive my ignorance, but what is IHT? Inheritence Tax? We do have a will and have recognised that this might well need to be changed...