Joint Tenants vs Tenants in Common (long post warning)

noclaf

Hi All,
I am trying to confirm if my parents house was registered as joint tenants vs tenants in common when purchased. They are legally divorced/separated now hence in this context hoping someone here might be able to clear this up for me because I'm still confused. Personal details changed, but just to show how it appears on the HM land registry doc. Right here goes with all the key info, bear with me as its a bit messy.

- Parents bought house as a married couple, they own an equal share of the property to my knowledge (Ive only seen ref to their 'shares' of the property in their wills and divorce docs and they state equal share ownership or words to that extent)
- Section B. Proprietorship register
Title Absolute - The entry appears as follows for my parents: Entry no.XX Dave Smith and Debra Smith , his wife, both of 111 Smith Drive registered on 12th July 1999.

I note the following from this website (https://mindatrest.co.uk/blog/how-to-tell-if-property-is-owned-as-tenants-in-common/) under 'Joint Tenants' paragraph: If a property is registered with the land registry you will know if the owners are joint tenants because there will be no restriction registered against the proprietors name in Section B Proprietorship Register.
I can confirm there is no 'restriction' appearing against my parents names in section B. So this suggests they purchased the house as 'Joint Tenants'.

Now as to why I'm confused:
My parents have both stated in their wills (post divorce) that their respective property shares (e.g: mums will says 'my one half share'..) will be passed to me...this suggests they are 'Tenants in Common' as that's a key feature where owners each own a specific share of the property and it passes to whoever its gifted to in their will rather than the other owner if they pass away.
I wonder if the status has changed due to my parents divorce too but not sure it can work like that unless HM Land Registry is advised of the change etc
If any suggestions feel free to post thought I suspect this needs a qualified legal person to walk through it.

Tom99

If they bought as joint tenants then they will still be joint tenants.
See here how to change:
https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common

The Form A restriction, if it's there, will say:

'No disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate (except a trust corporation) under which capital money arises is to be registered unless authorised by an order of the court.'

xylophone

As things appear to stand, the property is owned as joint tenants.

Ask your parents to check and if this proves to be the case, to sever the joint tenancy if each wishes to pass a share to you in their wills.

Mossfarr

I think its quite common for separated/divorcing couples to refer to 'my half of the house' however I find that not many people even realise what the difference is between joint tenants and tenants in common.

noclaf

Thanks guys..does this mean the current tenancy effectively legally overrides their wills and what was mentioned in the divorce re their halves being passed to me? I assume.it also means that if one passes away would their half of the house still passes to the surviving owner even if they are divorced?

Mojisola

noclaf wrote: »

Thanks guys..does this mean the current tenancy effectively legally overrides their wills and what was mentioned in the divorce re their halves being passed to me? I assume.it also means that if one passes away would their half of the house still passes to the surviving owner even if they are divorced?

Yes and yes.

As joint tenants, they both own all the house. When one dies, the other still owns all the house.

xylophone

See below and ask your parents to check.


https://www.clarionsolicitors.com/blog/what-happens-to-jointly-owned-assets-on

An example of an asset passing by survivorship is in the case of a property which is owned by the parties as joint tenants. For the person who dies, their share of the property passes to the surviving joint owner automatically on their death. If however the property is owned as tenants in common, then the deceased’s share of the property will pass in accordance with their Will or under the rules of intestacy if they have not made a Will. The most common way to own a property as a couple is as joint tenants, but it is important that you consider the implications of such ownership when buying a property.

Land_Registry

How the property is held relates to the beneficial ownership. We register the legal ownership so don't refer to terms joint tenants or TIC on the register so the land register is not definitive on such matters.

A form A restriction merely shows that an application was made but it's important to check wills, trust deeds etc as things can change and the register may not.

So when you talk about shares then these relate to the beneficial ownership. Easiest way to describe is that the beneficial ownership relates to £s/pence, namely the value as that can be split/divided into shares.

The legal ownership, the land/building, can't be split into shares, so you must always deal with the whole legal ownership. That means on death of one jointnlegal ownership that the whole legal ownership passes to the survivor. The split beneficial ownership can still exist though and needs to be considered/dealt with as appropriate

getmore4less

It is possible to sever the joint tenancy and the land reg not get updated to reflect the change.

Severing is typically done by giving notice to the other joint tenant(s)s you are severing the joint tenancy.

but can also come about by actions and mutual conduct that showed there was intent to sever the tenancy.

if both wills(new since divorce) refer to the share of the house then there is evidence of mutual intent by both parties the joint tenancy has been severed.

noclaf

Thanks for the additional responses, this has been v useful and an eye opener to what looks like a legal minefield to be honest!
The reason Im keen to identify the registry status is that I have one parent in private care but is not liable for costs of care and is funded..I also have a half sibling on said parents side. The other parent..if they ever need to go into care would be liable for care costs and their assets would therefore be in scope and so you can see where I'm going with this..the order of parents passing away now has significant implications for what could happen to the house so I'm trying.to.get ahead.of.the curve and.plan accordingly. I should add, have no intention to dispose of parents assets to avoid/dodge care costs. But the half sibling situation adds a dimension here too.

Land_Registry

noclaf wrote: »

Thanks for the additional responses, this has been v useful and an eye opener to what looks like a legal minefield to be honest!
The reason Im keen to identify the registry status is that I have one parent in private care but is not liable for costs of care and is funded..I also have a half sibling on said parents side. The other parent..if they ever need to go into care would be liable for care costs and their assets would therefore be in scope and so you can see where I'm going with this..the order of parents passing away now has significant implications for what could happen to the house so I'm trying.to.get ahead.of.the curve and.plan accordingly. I should add, have no intention to dispose of parents assets to avoid/dodge care costs. But the half sibling situation adds a dimension here too.

Understood but it is important to flag that the registered information is not definitive as to how the property was held.

Whilst it may offer an indication you must take into account all available information and add that to the mix and your calendar and sequence of events is also very relevant as you already appreciate