Transfer of house ownership after probate granted

sebloak

Mum passed away last year leaving a house and several thousand in savings. My brother and I are the only recipients in her will and I was left the house which i had valued (at £115K) for probate purposes. Probate came through after a long delay and everything else in the estate has been sorted.

There is just me and my brother so there was no real rush to sort everything straight away, so now the house is the last thing we have to deal with. I have lived in the house for last 15 years and will continue to do so, there are no plans on selling it.

So, my question is where do i start? Do i need a solicitor to sort the deeds out? or can i just change the details with the Land Registry?

da_rule

You need to fill in form AS1 and AP1 and send it, along with the probate certificate to the Land Registry (plus any fee). If you and your brother are both personal representatives then that is all you need. If one of you isn't a personal representative you'll also need form ID1.

Land_Registry

da_rule has covered it for you but here's a link to the guidance/forms you need assuming the property is already registered.

FreeBear

Land_Registry_representative wrote: »

...here's a link to the guidance/forms you need assuming the property is already registered.

If the assent triggers a compulsory first registration, you'll also need the FR1 form along with the deeds and conveyancing documents showing the chain of ownership - I had to do an assent and FR last year, and managed to locate all the paperwork to prove absolute title. The forms were not particularly difficult to fill in, and the local land Registry office were very helpful in checking the forms - Still, had a couple of very minor errors which delayed the process slightly.

As an executor, one advantage of dealing with the Land Registry is that they will accept the grant of representation as evidence of your identity - No need to jump through hoops with ID1 as the Probate Registry have already done the identity checks.

If you need a first registration and you don't have all the paperwork to prove absolute title, then you may want to consult a solicitor.

sebloak

Thanks all.

A quick search of the land registry site says the title register and plan are available to buy & download, so i can assume it is registered?

da_rule

Yep.

You really only need to title register but for an extra £3 the plan might be helpful/of interest.

sebloak

Great,

Thanks

da_rule

The only thing to consider when transferring the ownership is to make sure that you understand the difference between joint tenants and tenants in common.

FreeBear

da_rule wrote: »

The only thing to consider when transferring the ownership is to make sure that you understand the difference between joint tenants and tenants in common.

The AS1 form gives three options in section 10 -

Declaration of trust. The transferee is more than one person and

• they are to hold the property on trust for themselves as joint tenants
• they are to hold the property on trust for themselves as tenants in common in equal shares
• they are to hold the property on trust:

If the OP is the sole beneficiary to the property, then it doesn't really matter which of the first to options is selected (my opinion). Hopefully our helpful Land Registry rep can comment.

da_rule

FreeBear wrote: »

If the OP is the sole beneficiary to the property, then it doesn't really matter which of the first to options is selected (my opinion). Hopefully our helpful Land Registry rep can comment.

The OP has said that it's just him and his brother so there may be 2 beneficiaries.

If there is only one transferee then there is no need to select any option from section 10.

sebloak

Both my brother and me are beneficiary's of the will, but the house is to be transferred solely to me.