Parent transferring registered owner of house to me

danny86

My dad is retiring and wants to transfer the registered owner of the house to me. He's paid off the mortgage and the property is freehold. He bought it in '97ish and have lived here since except barring a brief absence for university and one subsequent year living with a friend and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

I have the AP1 and TR1 forms filled in and I just wanted to see if anyone here can explain whether this is a good idea to go ahead? I'm just weary of what I'd be liable for if I decided to move out in future, or when my dad passes away what sort of tax would I be subject to, or if he moves to a retirement home and I rent out the property etc? Could anyone here explain whether this is a good idea or offer an alternative I could tell him of? Thanks for any help.

jellie

danny86 wrote: »

Could anyone here explain whether this is a good idea or offer an alternative I could tell him of? Thanks for any help.

What are is the aim of the transfer, what are you hoping to achieve / avoid paying?

There's plenty of threads on this subject - try searching, this topic comes up fairly regularly.

BigAunty

The Age UK website has a fact sheet that can tell you of the risks and issues that will come from a 'deprivation of assets' perspective when he tries to sidestep paying towards care home fees by transferring the property to you.

Local councils are sick and tired of the elderly presenting themselves as too poor to pay for their means tested care services or residential care home only to find out they've given away hundreds of thousands of pounds of their savings, properties and investments to their family.

They can and do investigate the historic means of people applying to them, going back years to uncover this ruse. I'm not sure what they can do when they discover that the current pauper once had substantial capital but the age UK website will tell you.

danny86

jellie wrote: »

What are is the aim of the transfer, what are you hoping to achieve / avoid paying?

There's plenty of threads on this subject - try searching, this topic comes up fairly regularly.

Basically he wants peace of mind that the house is mine should he die unexpectedly for whatever reason.

Annisele

danny86 wrote: »

Basically he wants peace of mind that the house is mine should he die unexpectedly for whatever reason.

In that case, what he needs is a will!

Transferring the house to you before he's dead leaves him in a very vulnerable position. If you get married and then divorced, you might have to sell it to pay off your spouse. You might go bankrupt. Or become too ill to work and need means tested benefits. Or ... you get the picture.

You could find yourself having to pay capital gains tax when the property is sold (depending on where you live in the meantime), but the real reason not to go ahead with this is the risk to him.

Mrs_pbradley936

It has to be an outright gift he cannot live there rent free. The best place to ask is the saving tax board because there they are used to these questions. He would have to live for 7 years or you might have to pay tax - how much depends on how much his estate is worth.
If he has a decent pension he might be able to fund his own care assuming he ever needed it. Most people do not. More people die of cancer or a heart attack or stay with it mentally and physically than have to spend their last few years in a home.

G_M

danny86 wrote: »

Basically he wants peace of mind that the house is mine should he die unexpectedly for whatever reason.

Then the solution is to write a will.

There are even charities that will pay for a solicitor to prepare a will (in the hope/expectation that the charity will receive a gift in the will - though it is not compulsory)

eg CancerUk,

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills

ps - is dad going to continue to live in the property after the transfer? There are just so many risks in this - some shown above. What if you get divorced? (no idea if you are married right now but if not, you might be in 8 years time)? Your spouse could claim half the property, evict dad and force a sale.

What if..... what if......

Your dad would be mad to do this, and unless you are just hoping to get your hands on his cash/property asap, you'd be mad to encourage him.

danny86

G_M wrote: »

ps - is dad going to continue to live in the property after the transfer? There are just so many risks in this - some shown above. What if you get divorced? (no idea if you are married right now but if not, you might be in 8 years time)? Your spouse could claim half the property, evict dad and force a sale.

Yes he most likely will continue to live in the property, though as you said there's a lot of unknowns like whether he'll eventually go into a care home if he gets senile or something, or if I find a partner (not married) and he wants to move out to give us space etc.

If anything happens out of my own actions like a divorce then that's absolutely fine with me, and probably him (personal responsibility and all that) but my concern is whether I'm liable for anything purely from the transfer of the property that's out of my control.

And thanks everyone for the helpful responses thus far.

G_M

danny86 wrote: »

If anything happens out of my own actions like a divorce then that's absolutely fine with me, and probably him (personal responsibility and all that) .

so you'd be happy to see dad evicted due to your actions (eg divorce, bankrupcy etc)?

What started out as a sensible post requesting information to help you make an intelligent decision is sounding increasingly selfish.

I'm out.

danny86

G_M wrote: »

so you'd be happy to see dad evicted due to your actions (eg divorce, bankrupcy etc)?

What started out as a sensible post requesting information to help you make an intelligent decision is sounding increasingly selfish.

I'm out.

Thanks anyway though I think it's a bit rash to be making assumptions about my character purely out of a hypothetical scenario (in this case as I mentioned if I were to find a partner who moved in he most likely would move out so he would not be evicted if a divorce were ever to happen assuming there even is a marriage involved, so he would not be without input on the situation).

I admit not everything has been thought through by either of us (this transfer was only asked of me very recently) hence why I'm here so I can find out things I need to be aware of like what you just mentioned and pass it on to him. He then can decide if he thinks giving me the property is more of a detriment to either of us, and I wouldn't want to be in a worse position than if I didn't get the property at all.

corbyboy

To be fair, you haven't really answered the basic fundamental question of what is the point of doing this? What has your father got to gain by doing this? If he wants you to have the house when he dies then get him to write a will.

If this is about care home fees or means-tested benefits it would be easier to just be upfront and honest about it as that is how you will get the best advice.