Buying Half a House

degs

My sister and I own a mortgage free Freehold house, my wife wishes to buy my sisters half off her for approx £80,000. Can we do this legally between the 3 of us as there are no searches etc involved.
Degs

BitterAndTwisted

The only way to do it legally is by getting a qualified professional to draw up the documents. It's not something I'd choose to do DIY via the Land Registry as it's not just a straight transfer of title. You'll also need to consider whether you and your wife own as joint-tenants or tenants-in-common and have that drawn up, too..

booksurr

if your sister does not live in the house herself then remember she will be liable for Capital Gains Tax based on 50% of the property's current market value, which may or may not, be £80k

ic

Its so much money you should employ a solicitor to ensure everything is done correctly and to ensure no nightmares later (say with insurance if there was a fire for example, or perhaps matters of inheritance). The searches are done to protect yourself and the mortgage lender from investing in a lemon - so you won't have to do those if you don't want to, they'd protect your wife from throwing money into a potential money pit that is currently yours and your sisters problem. Obviously depends on your own knowledge on the house and your relations with one another.

Technically you could do it yourself - dig around on the land registry. Its probably quite straight forward. I managed to sort out my grandparents power of attorney diy - it was just long (long long) forms.