Changing Title Deeds from Joint to Single Ownership with Guarantor Mortgage

DistortedVision

My mum is guarantor on my mortgage with the Halifax. We wanted to change the title deeds to transfer ownership from joint names to my name only. No money will be changing hands.


I spoke to the Halifax and they said they are happy with this. We do not want to remove my mum as guarantor as they said they would have to make a new mortgage application as the mortgage is interest only and our repayment vehicle is cash ISAs which is only no longer acceptable. They said that I did not need to remove my mum as guarantor from their point of view but I needed to check if Land Registry would allow me to do it.


Can anyone please advise? Also can I just complete the form myself without instructing a solicitor. I'm unable to determine what the fee is using the fees calculator:


http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/fees-calculator.html


Many thanks!

Thrugelmir

You'll need to employ a solicitor. The solicitor will represent the interest of the bank as well as yourself. After all it's the bank's mortgage charge which secures the debt.

Land_Registry

Distorted Vision - I suspect you have already seen our online guidance re transferring ownership but I have added the link for others as well

As Thrugelmir suggests the lender will normally insist on your using a solicitor to complete the process but check with them. If they don't then you may still need their written consent depending on what is registered, namely if they have a Restriction registered on the title which requires them to consent to the change.

The fee to register a Transfer of the equity from 2 to 1 and for no monetary amount would be payable under Scale 2 on half the value of the equity.

Half the equity is current market value minus outstanding amount of mortgage divided by 2.
If that sum is less than £100,000 then the registration fee would be £40

Note - because of the complexity of the calculation it is not listed under the fee calculator I'm afraid

kingstreet

I don't understand.

Are you sure she's a guarantor? It sounds more like she's a joint borrower and owner.

Please clarify.

DistortedVision

She's guarantor to the mortgage and she's registered as joint owner on the title deeds.

DistortedVision

Many thanks Land Registry representative - I really appreciate it.
Will I need to obtain a professional valuation for the purposes of calculation of the fees? The fee is going to be £40 as the final sum for half the equity is around £30 000 and that would be based on overvaluing my property.


I'll write to Halifax as you advised.

Land_Registry

Distorted Vision - we don't normally ask for a formal or professional valuation as we would have a good idea of value for the property/are involved and the type of transfer invariably means that we are looking at the lowest fee band anyway.

If you simply inc a letter stating the market value and the amount outstanding then that should be fine