Severing Joint Tenancy letter

mikeassured

Hi

I am in the process of splitting from my partner.

Our house is in joint names, and I have always paid the mortgage and bills from my personal bank account. I have also paid significant amounts off the mortgage to reduce it.

I am considering sending a severance letter for our joint tenancy to change to tenants in common. Sample letters seem to include an equity split of 50/50, my question is, do I have to state an equity split?

If it does go to court, will it be likely it will be a 50/50 split as the property is in joint names, despite my paying the mortgage and bills?

We are not married btw, and no children.

Thanks for any advice.

theartfullodger

Don't think this can be done without the agreement of both/all parties (obviously).

As there are substantial assets potentially involved you should seek professional advice from a family law solicitor (ie not any old high street solicitor).

I would not make changes to the deeds until EVERYTHING was agreed (eg who gets the cat, the car, the CDs, that nice leather 3-piece suite..). ie don't agree one one item (the big one..) until agreeing what happens with everything.

See also
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/relationship_breakdown/options_for_homeowners/cohabiting_couples
&
http://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/23393/ShelterGuide_RelationshipBreakdown.pdf

Pages 37 & 38 include...

Cohabitees
If you are not married or in a civil partnership, then your long-term
rights depend firstly on whether you have a legal interest in the home.
If you don’t, you will have no automatic rights to the home, but you can
still ask the court to recognise any contributions you’ve made.
If you are the sole legal owner, you have a right to stay in the home.
However, your partner could apply to establish a beneficial interest if
they feel they are entitled to a share of the property (see below). If the
home is being sold and your partner has applied for their beneficial
interest to be recognised, legal ownership will not necessarily affect
who is entitled to money from the sale.
If you are joint legal owners, you have equal rights to stay in your
home. If you feel you shouldn’t have equal rights (eg because you feel
you’ve contributed more than your partner) you can apply for beneficial
interest to try to alter your shares of the property.
If you are not the legal owner but have made contributions to the
home, you can apply to establish a beneficial interest, which will take
these contributions into account (see below).
If you have children, property can be transferred from one partner to
the other if the court decides it would be for the good of any children
involved. Speak to a specialist adviser or solicitor if you want to pursue
this course of action (see pages 4 and 45–46).
Beneficial interest
Claiming a beneficial interest is a way of getting the court to formally
recognise contributions you have made towards the home. It gives you
rights to live in the home and a share of its value if it is sold. If you are
cohabiting and your partner is the sole owner, it is the only way to
establish long-term rights to the home.
shelter.org.uk/shelterguides
37
What beneficial interest means
Legal ownership can be overruled by beneficial interest, and does not
necessarily affect who is entitled to what share when a relationship
ends. Beneficial interest will take into account any contributions both
partners have made towards the home, and the intentions of both
partners when the home was purchased.
Establishing a beneficial interest could allow you to:
■■ get the right to live in the home
■■ prevent your ex-partner from selling the home
■■ prevent your ex-partner from using the home to get a loan
■■
get a share of the proceeds if the home is sold. Your share will
depend on the terms of your beneficial interest.
Who should apply
Establishing a beneficial interest is particularly useful if:
■■
■■
you have no automatic rights to the home (eg you’re not a legal
owner, and/or you’re not the spouse/civil partner of the owner)
you’re joint legal owners, but you feel you have more rights to the
property. In this case you can apply to establish a beneficial interest
to alter the your share of the property.

Cheers!

Kynthia

The property was owned jointly by both if you. Unless you had a Deed of Trust drawn up specifying anything other than 50:50 ownership then that is likely to be the default. As you weren't married you'll need to agree something between yourselves or one try to sue the other for more. Therefore get professional advice about this and changing to tenants in common.

xylophone

Don't think this can be done without the agreement of both/all parties

See "unilateral notice of severance of joint tenancy"
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-18

http://uklawstudent.thomsonreuters.com/2013/02/monthly-nutshell-what-is-a-joint-tenancy-vs-tenancy-in-common-land-law/

However, were I in the OP's position, I would employ a solicitor.

Richard_Webster

Severing a joint tenancy simply means that if you die the the whole property doesn't automatically pass to the other - it does nothing to regulate the extent of your respective shares - which are still up for argument/negotiation.

It may be important to protect the position by serving a notice - the forms can be downloaded from www.landregistry.gov.uk but you would need legal advice about your position as far as the shares are concerned.

Remember that you will still be liable for the mortgage payments - the lender can choose who it chases for the whole amount - you can't say to it that you are only responsible for half or some other percentage - they will not be interested - you will have taken out a joint and several liability that cannot be changed by severing a joint tenancy.

mikeassured

Hi

I anticipate my ex will not sign and return the Notice of Severance, and looking at the Land Registry site, I would need to submit the original or a certified copy of the severance letter.

Who would I have to ask to certify? Instead of paying a solicitor to do this, could I ask someone who is a member of a professional body to do this for me?

Many thanks

TBagpuss

It can be certified by a solicitor - you may be able to get it done at your local court.

Certified copies are not generally expensive as there is no legal advice involved.

Notice of severence is effective when delivered. If you don't think that your ex will sign then it may be sensible to take other steps to prove that it it has been served on her, such as sending it 'signed for'

RAS

It costs £5-10 to get a solicitor to certify a copy of a document.

Make sure as well that you have certificates of posting (free) from two different post offices (send 2 copies first class).

The court consider documents received two days after posting.