inheriting a house at what point do you become legal owner

homeraway

hi

further to other questions/posts i have made on here, trying to establish at what point you become legally the owner of a property.

relative died 2003, I have only just completed the process to transfer/assent ownership of his house to my name.

at what point do i legally become the owner of the property
is it at date of death (some 11 years ago)
or on date i first transfer/assent the property to my name.
bearing in mind that we didn't know i was to inherit this property until last year.

need to establish legal ownership date to assist with capital gains tax calculations when eventually we come to sell.
as i now have the property as my main residence.

just wondering if there is a simply answer to this before i approach a solicitor to work it out.

thanks

booksurr

homeraway wrote: »

bearing in mind that we didn't know i was to inherit this property until last year.

you will have to explain this further

- either there was a will and so who got what is clear or there wasn't so the rules of intestacy apply

- if there was a will was it contested and it took 11 years to sort it out (really)?

Mojisola

homeraway wrote: »

relative died 2003, I have only just completed the process to transfer/assent ownership of his house to my name.

at what point do i legally become the owner of the property
is it at date of death (some 11 years ago)
or on date i first transfer/assent the property to my name.
bearing in mind that we didn't know i was to inherit this property until last year.

You have only just completed transfer of ownership - have the executors been dealing with the house up til now?

homeraway

further detail

relative (a) died 2003, no will, his sister has lived in the house and both I and her have inherited the property 50% each.
i now also live in property as my main home and have registered property with land registry (for first time - which is another interesting but not unusual situation) in both our names.

so at what point does the legal ownership start - over to you guys

booksurr

this is like blood from a stone

what is your exact relationship to the "relative"?
we cannot answer your question until you explain the full circumstances of why you have now "inherited" it given the laws of intestacy, also please confirm if this is England/Wales, Scotland or N Ireland?

Pennywise

How did you and his sister inherit if there was no will. Are you his and her brother?

Who handled the estate's affairs for the last 11 years. I suspect that whoever "controlled" the estate were trustees and it's those trustees who will be liable to capital gains tax on the increase in property value over the last 11 years.

But, we really, really, need a lot more detail. With tax, the devil is in the detail. Assumptions and guesswork isn't anywhere near good enough.

CLAPTON

from the confusing facts you have given
the only way you can have inherited half the property is by being a brother or sister of the 'relative'

xylophone

Background here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/65764852#Comment_65764852

I would have thought that the OP's best bet is to take qualified advice?

zzzLazyDaisy

As there was property involved at the time of your uncles death, the estate should have gone to probate. As your uncle died intestate, the laws of intestacy applied, and would have been actioned by the probate office. In order to get probate it would have been necessary to appoint at least one person to administer the estate.

The date on which the beneficiaries become owners of the house is when the administrator transfers the house into their joint names. I am assuming that there was enough money to clear the funeral and other debts from other assets/funds, since the house was not sold to pay the debts, so the transfer of the house from your uncle's name to the joint names of the three of you should have been a fairly quick and straightforward process, although you would almost certainly have needed to use a solicitor to deal with the transfer and subsequent registration of the property with the land registry, especially if your uncle had owned the house for many years and this was a process of first registration.

If Probate was not applied for at the time, the beneficiaries should contact the probate office for advice as this is a legal requirement when a house passes to beneficiaries on the death of the owner.

If probate was obtained but the administrator(s) failed to properly register the property in the joint names of the beneficiaries (ie the new owners) then you may need to seek rectification of the register. That is a complicated process and you will need to see a solicitor.

Either way, CGT is not calculated from the date that you moved into the house, but from the date you became the legal owner, which was the date that the estate was wound up and the property was passed to the beneficiaries under the terms of the intestacy. Which should not have been much more than 12 months after your uncle's death.

If that did not happen, you should see a solicitor and make sure all the paperwork is in order.

booksurr

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Either way, CGT is not calculated from the date that you moved into the house,

agreed

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

but from the date you became the legal owner, which was the date that the estate was wound up and the property was passed to the beneficiaries under the terms of the intestacy.

disagree, CGT is calculated on the basis of who is beneficial owner, not who is legal owner http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/cgmanual/cg11730.htm

in the context of inheritance it therefore applies from the date of death since that is the date that the beneficiary becomes the beneficial owner, not the date the estate was wound up

only in the event that a property is sold by the executors does the estate itself become liable for CGT since it is the estate which is the beneficial owner in that case

hence it is vital to establish who is the beneficiary of the intestacy as they are the liable person(s) for CGT

OP's earlier post (thanks xylophone) that ....

homeraway wrote: »

situation is as follows:

uncle dies 2003 no Will
leaving house to 3 members of family a, b, c

is too simplified since the uncle did not have a will so cannot leave anything to anyone. Intestacy applies, the deceased uncle appears to have no surviving parents, wife or children of his own, therefore his estate is split equally between his own siblings or, if such a sibling is dead (ie patently one of the OP parents), then that share goes to the deceased's nephew (ie. the OP). If the OP's parent is still alive then the OP did not inherit anything, his parent did (Assuming Eng/Wales)

Op states that family member c) is himself, we know an aunt is around, but who is the third person and how does that tally with OP now claiming to own 50%

le_loup

amna350 wrote: »

You should buy it.

Why are all your posts nonsense?