Tenants in Common but no Deed of Trust

Mathshead

Some guidance in principle please. I purchased a house with my girlfriend a few years ago, but now we have decided to split up. When we bought the house the tenancy was set up as Tenants in Common because we thought it a good idea to confirm that we were making different levels of contribution to the deposit, but although we were advised by the solicitor to confirm this with Deed of Trust document, we didn't get round to doing it. Now fast forward a few years and we have no legal record of the difference in shares. In this sort of case, will the presumption be 50:50 share, or can I argue that I paid a much bigger share of the deposit and have contributed more to the household costs to get a bigger share of the sale value. Any expert advice would be appreciated.

littlegreenfrog_2

You will need to instruct a solicitor to advise you. How are things between you? Do you think it is likely that she will honour what you originally agreed, or will she want to go for half?

Mathshead

Thanks. I am hoping we can talk about this objectively and avoid legal costs. I am pretty certain though that she will be starting the negotiation from the default half and half position to get advantage in other areas.

littlegreenfrog_2

If you think that she will not want to honour what you originally agreed then I would suggest you make an appointment with a solicitor on your own to see what your options are. Most will do a fixed fee for an initial appointment. If you have a decent amount of equity in the house and you believe you are entitled to more than half of it then some professional advice would be money well spent. But if you talk to your ex-girlfriend first then you will have more information to give the solicitor.

SmlSave

Do you have any paper work from the purchase? If you can find the Transfer Deed you may have noted on there the shares you wished to hold the property in. But if the Deed got sent to the land registry it's most likely been destroyed.

If you bought less than six years ago you can ask your original solicitors to retrieve the purchase file too, they may have notes on what you agreed - nothing legal but might be helpful to you

anselld

SmlSave wrote: »

Do you have any paper work from the purchase? If you can find the Transfer Deed you may have noted on there the shares you wished to hold the property in. But if the Deed got sent to the land registry it's most likely been destroyed.

If you bought less than six years ago you can ask your original solicitors to retrieve the purchase file too, they may have notes on what you agreed - nothing legal but might be helpful to you

Agreed. In the absence of a separate trust deed the shares should have been recorded on the TR1 Section 10 which is effectively a simplified deed of trust. If the purchase was only "a few years" ago then the Solicitor should have retained a copy of the TR1.

Mathshead

Thanks, Problem is that we both know what the relative shares are based on the original contribution to the deposit and subsequent contribution, but we didn't ever commit that to any sort of document. I don have anything in writing that confirms that it may have been an intention to have the ownership in unequal shares.

anselld

Mathshead wrote: »

Thanks, Problem is that we both know what the relative shares are based on the original contribution to the deposit and subsequent contribution, but we didn't ever commit that to any sort of document. I don have anything in writing that confirms that it may have been an intention to have the ownership in unequal shares.

So have you tried to obtain a copy of the TR1 or not?

Dan83

Have you spoke to the other person or are you asuming they want 50%?

Mathshead

I haven't raised it directly. Before doing so I wanted to check the legal position. I may be surprised and we can reach agreement, but I need to be aware of what law says before having that discussion.

Mathshead

No, and I am not sure its relevant here. I don't recall such a document as part of purchase process, and isn't it related to land transfer?