House deeds-solicitor advice ???

martinb29

Hi, can anyone answer a question please as I feel my Solicitor is wrong!
My husband & I parted in 2010, a decree Nisi has been granted (3 months ago) and we now want to sort out the property before applying for the Absolute.
My ex & I have agreed that the house should be put back into my sole name, I have owned it for over 20 years and his name was only put on the deeds in 2008 when we met & married, he left me two years later never to return.
My question is a simple one (I hope).
We hold the house as joint Tenants at the moment.
The solicitor is (at a charge of £350) saying that we need to change this to Tenants in Common first, with 50/50 ownership, and then have his name removed (at another £425) from the deeds.
I understand the difference between Joint Tenants & Tenants in Common but cannot see any reason for this course of action before then removing his name from the deeds, or am I missing something??
Why cannot he just go straight for removing his name??
( I know there are issues with "just" removing his name but these have been resolved)
Does he need to change it to Tenants in Common to then remove his name?
He is justifying this change in case anything happens to either of us in the meantime. I understand that but, it's been like that for 8 years and at the cost of £350, a chance worth taking in my opinion.

da_rule

No, you don’t need to change your ownership type (and even if you did, that cost is quite steep for the work - essentially submitting Form SEV to the Land Registry).

Do you have a mortgage on the property? If so have they consented to the transfer?

If there is no mortgage then it’s just a case of completing a TR1 with both of your names as the transferor and just your name in the transferee box.

You should get advice on your stamp duty liability, especially if there is a mortgage. This may be why the solicitor is recommending severing the joint tenancy first, as your gain will only be the value of your soon to be ex-husbands share of the house, whereas if you remain as joint tenants then your gain is the whole cake of the house. Obviously, depending on the house value, this may have SDLT implications.

There is no harm in severing the joint tenancy and it will provide some protection (assuming you have re-written your will to exclude him). However, you can probably do it yourself using the Land Registry form.

martinb29

Thank you da_rule for your reply.
I owned the house for 8 years (with a mortgage in my sole name) I then met the ex in 2008, we then married and remortgaged in joint names.

The Mortgage company have, in principal, agreed to his name being removed, from the deeds but not the mortgage but that wont be an issue with either of us.

The Solicitors explanation for the transfer to T i C is to protect my interest in the case of death, no other reason has been given.

I had not thought about Stamp Duty but as the house was mine for many years before we married and remortgage. I would hope this wont be an issue.
My ex spent most of the money we got from remortgaging and never made any mortgage payments, you live and learn!

I gather from your reply that you also cannot see any concrete reason for the Joint to TiC transfer to be done, prior to his name being removed?

G_M

martinb29 wrote: »

The Solicitors explanation for the transfer to T i C is to protect my interest in the case of death, no other reason has been given.

If you were to die at present (owning as joint tenants) then your ex would automatically become the sole owner irrespective of any will you may have.

Once the property is transferred into your sole name, this will no longer be the case.

Make sure you don't die before the transfer to your name completes.

(equally if following your solicitor's advice, make sure you don't die till the switch to T in C is complete!)


If you do for some reason decide to change first to T in C, make sure you also write a will (if you haven't already).

Thrugelmir

martinb29 wrote: »

The Mortgage company have, in principal, agreed to his name being removed, from the deeds but not the mortgage but that wont be an issue with either of us.

Is your ex really happy to remain on the mortgage while having no rights over the property. I suspect his legal advice will be not to. Meanwhile you are still exposed to the risks previously outlined in earlier posts.

martinb29

G_M, I agree and understand the "risk" but TBH it's a "risk" that has been ever present since 2010 so a little longer wont matter, I hope.
In hindsight I may be being unfair to the Solicitor and all he is doing is covering himself, just in case. But now I am sure the change to T i C is advisory, rather than compulsory I know what instructions to give him.


Thrugelmir, the ex is suddenly desperate to be removed from the deeds and whilst I am more than happy to oblige feel he is up to something.
I dont know if he has taken legal advice or not but, as in most cases, the Solicitors correspondence has advised him too. If he doesn't that is up to him, he has cost me a fortune to get this far what with traces and Bailiffs having to serve him etc etc. Need to strike while the iron is hot with little delay as possible.
As above the risks are no more that they have been so am trying to avoid any delay before he changes his mind or disappears again.


Thank you both for your input.