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B61 Notice of severance of a joint tenancy - Help!

kevin63
kevin63 Posts: 69 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi,

Me and my ex partner are currently in process of selling our house. We purchased it as joint owners but today I received a letter saying this is now severed and we are tenants in common.

Is it right that my partner can do this without my approval? She handed me a letter with notice but it wasn't sent through the post and I wasn't happy.

Also, how does the equity work now? I'm worried she may of changed the joint owners 50/50 share to now something within her favour as I haven't signed anything off regarding this.

Your help would be appreciated.

Comments

  • kevin63
    kevin63 Posts: 69 Forumite
    If it helps we are both still living in the property and both contributing to all payments equally.
  • Annisele
    Annisele Posts: 4,835 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Yes, she can sever the joint tenancy without your approval. There's more detail at the Land Registry here.

    If you started out as beneficial joint owners, then you didn't own it 50/50. You both jointly owned 100% of the property. So, if one of you had died, the other would have owned the whole property by themselves, regardless of what your wills said.

    Unless something else has happened, once the tenancy was severed you each owned 50% of the property. That sounds like it's what you thought you had to begin with, so there's no need to panic quite yet.
  • dimbo61
    dimbo61 Posts: 13,727 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Your EX partner can now make a WILL and leave her 50% to anybody even the CATS home! or RSPSA,OXFAM ETC
  • moromir
    moromir Posts: 1,854 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    dimbo61 wrote: »
    Your EX partner can now make a WILL and leave her 50% to anybody even the CATS home! or RSPSA,OXFAM ETC

    Which is entirely fair and up to her if she's made a 50% contribution to the property thus far...
  • tBagpuss_2
    tBagpuss_2 Posts: 103 Forumite
    This is absolutely normal, and is one of the things which a person who is separating or divorcing will normally be advised to consider, as soon as they take legal advice about separation.

    It would make sense for you to make/update your own will so it reflects the way in which you would like your share of the property to be dealt with in the event anything were to happen to you.
  • kevin63
    kevin63 Posts: 69 Forumite
    Thanks for the help guys,

    I now have a completion date and after seeking out (expensive) legal advice the issue was resolved.

    Appreciated.
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