DIY transfer of equity into joint names

rjay

I own a small B1 commercial property which has recently been granted permission for a change-of-use to residential C3. I now wish to sell it but my accountant has advised me to change ownership into joint names with my wife. She tells me that this is something I can do myself as there is no money changing hands and no mortgage.

I've taken a look at this page https://www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry/transfer-ownership-of-your-property and the AP1 / TR1 forms which seems to be what I need. I'm not 100% confident in filling this form out but I've got about 5 quotes from solicitors and they're all at least £300 which seems a lot. So here I am working my way through the forms !

In the AP1 form, box 4, is a section entitled 'Application, priority & fees'. There's very little help on this section in the guidance notes: do I just enter 'Transfer of whole of registered title(s)" ?

And, apart from the AP1, TP1 & ID documents are there any other documents I need to submit ?

Land_Registry

rjay - sorry to read you have found the forms and guidance not as helpful as you had hoped.

The application is indeed a Transfer and you can leave it at just that

You are though transferring the whole of the registered title so should be using a form TR1. A form TP1 is for the transfer of part only of the actual property so for example a piece of the garden (if there was a garden) or land.

You cannot transfer a half share and I suspect that is how you are viewing this. You are in essence transferring the whole from just your sole name to joint names so a TR1 should be used.

So forms AP1, TR1 and ID1s are what are required here

rjay

Ok, thanks that's very helpful. With regard to evidence of identity, it seems though that after doing all this I'm still going to have to go through a conveyancer because I am nowhere near any Land Registry office: isn't there any other way of confirming identity ?

Land_Registry

rjay wrote: »

Ok, thanks that's very helpful. With regard to evidence of identity, it seems though that after doing all this I'm still going to have to go through a conveyancer because I am nowhere near any Land Registry office: isn't there any other way of confirming identity ?

rjay - I'm afraid not. Whilst we will consider exceptional circumstances if it is simply an issue of 'distance' from an office then the answer would be no.

rjay

I finally managed to get our ID's verified so am just about to send off the paperwork to the Land Registry. But I can't figure out what the fee is for this Transfer ? Is it £40 (scale 1) ?

Also, from when the paperwork is received how long does it usually take to update the registry ?

Land_Registry

rjay - if no monies are changing hands and it is going from a sole name to your joint names then it is Scale 2 on half the current market value
If that figure is less than £100K then yes the fee is £40

Timescales can vary but if you are submitting it yourself we will need to make a few checks which may involve our writing to you as the current registered owner at the address on the register.

As such you are looking at between 10/20 working days to complete it depending on quickly those checks are completed. If you get any communications from us then you need to reply asap to keep the process moving

rjay

Is it any quicker if I bring the documents into a Land Registry office ?

Land_Registry

Only quicker in that you save a day or two in the post - it would not speed up the registration process thereafter I'm afraid