Registering deeds with Land Registry

staro30

Hi,
Hopefully, this is the right section for this?
My father has received his deeds from his building society who have been looking after them for years since the mortgage was paid off and charging £30 per year for that service. He would like to register them with the Land Registry and I have the FR1 form. He would the registration to be in my name. Not to avoid future costs but just as it's one thing less to sort out when he passes on. Do we just complete the FR1 form with in my name (the son) or does he have to have some signed letter from him to me saying he is gifting the house to me?
Thanks
Staro

bigadaj

You need to post in the housing forum, there's a land registry rep there who can answer questions.

Farmer-Giles

Upon finalising the mortgage, the building society should have had the deeds updated with the Land Registry to show that there was no longer a mortgage in the 'charges' section.and that the title number for the property was solely in your Father's name.
You can check this for £3 (or £6 including a title plan) directly from the Land Registry publicly searchable register.
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/property-ownership
(Don't get ripped off by a 'lookalike' site).

xylophone

He is gifting you his home? http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/pass-money-property/pass-home-to-children.htm
The above might be relevant.

And should your father require to enter a home - http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-homes/deprivation-of-assets-in-the-means-test-for-care-home-provision/

BobQ

OP Are you sure that the deeds are not already registered at the Land Registry? If he took out the mortgage years ago, and the building society had them, then you may be correct that they have yet to be registered. But you should check on their website as has been suggested.

You need a legal document Deed of Transfer to be signed and witnessed. I would get a solicitor to do this since it is in your interest that nobody subsequently suggests your father was not of sound mind and a solicitor would provide a level of confidence that this was the case.

Registering the property in your name has four issues. First it will be a gift so depending on the value of the estate, if it is gifted within 7 years of his death it may still attract Inheritance Tax. Second if you are not living in the house you will be subject to Capital Gains Tax when it is sold. Third, whatever your intentions, if your father has to go into a care home the local authority will be looking at this very carefully as Deprivation of Assets. Fourth, it would be a gift with reservation if he continues to live in the house after signing it over to you. As a pre-owned asset it would be subject to any IHT however long he lived in it after the transfer. The only way round that is for him to pay a commercial rent to you and for you to pay income tax on it.

Of course if the estate is below the IHT threshold only the Deprivation of Assets and your CGT liability will apply.

BobQ

Farmer-Giles wrote: »

Upon finalising the mortgage, the building society should have had the deeds updated with the Land Registry to show that there was no longer a mortgage in the 'charges' section.and that the title number for the property was solely in your Father's name.
You can check this for £3 (or £6 including a title plan) directly from the Land Registry publicly searchable register.
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/property-ownership
(Don't get ripped off by a 'lookalike' site).

Yes but many BS do not do this and there is no legal requirement to register just because the loan is paid. In many cases its not worth the BS getting the item out of their storage facility unless the owner asks for them . Not if they can charge £30 a year for looking after them!

Farmer-Giles

Hence my mention of spending £3 on the Land Registry website to see what their present copy says about a charge or mortgage, compared to the detailed documents released by the building society some time ago.

I would recommend anybody buying, renting or leasing a property does this anyway before they commit themselves, so as to see all sorts of things regarding any charges, mortgages, court orders (bankruptcy etc.)

Land_Registry

I suspect from your OP that the property is unregistered but as others have suggested it is always worth confirming this in some way. As you are referring to form FR1 I also suspect you have already done some initial reading so the first bit of my post may cover things already investigated.

Our online service will confirm whether a property is registered by the simple fact that it will reveal that information is available and you then login and pay £3 to check the details. However if no information is available then whilst it may hint at the property being unregistered it is no guarantee although with a single property the odds are that it is unregistered.

As such, and if you are unsure as to whether it is registered or not, I would check online and also check our Practice Guide 1 to see when compulsory registration was introduced to the area concerned - section 9 lists the areas of England & Wales and the trigger date concerned - if Dad bought the property before the listed date then this is further evidence that it is unlikely to be registered.

Ultimately the only way of being 100% sure though is to complete a postal application using form SIM and paying £4

If, and we suspect it is, the property is unregistered then our online guidance explains how to apply for first registration.

Transferring ownership from Dad to just you or the two of you would be a trigger for first registration and as others have mentioned form TR1 can be used. Guidance on completion of form TR1 is also available online.

But as BobQ posted there are a wide number of issues to consider here, not least regarding registration but also the implications, for both you and your Father, of changing the ownership. As such I would always recommend legal/financial advice even though the actual registration aspects can be quite straightforward to complete.

staro30

Hi,
Thanks for the replies. When I rang the Land Registry to enquire about registering, they did a check and stated they have no record thus pointed me in the direction of the FR1 form on their website.
I think I may just register his home in his name as it sounds complicated to put it my name.
Thanks
Staro

Land_Registry

Thanks Staro - strictly speaking we should not be advising whether the property is registered or not over the phone. The official route is to complete a form SIM as explained in my earlier post.

Transferring ownership from a sole ownership into joint names is fairly common, for example on marriage, so should not be too complicated.

But worth discussing with a solicitor or financial adviser to see what the pros and cons may be between sole and joint ownership as it that area that often needs thinking through from both his and your own perspectives but others are better placed to post on this.

staro30

Thanks.

Going back a couple of posts. The estate is below the IHT threshold. I would only transfer the house into my name. What are the implications for Capital Gains Tax?

Cheers
Staro