Tenants in Common - removing deceased from Land Registry deeds

Ridders

My dad died in June. He and my mum owned their house outright and the house was in joint names as tenants in common. The will left everything to my mum.

We filled out a form to register the death of a joint owner but mum has now had a letter back telling her that there is a restriction that cannot be removed "no disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate under which capital money arises is to he registered except under an order of the Court".

This letter is in legal speak and we haven't a clue what to do now, if anything. There is another paragraph that says the restriction will no longer be required if the remaining owner is sole beneficiary, which she is.

My question is really whether enough has been done, or whether we now have to do something to prove she is sole beneficiary. She has no intention of selling currently, but what would happen if she does decide to one day?

Any advice much appreciated 👍

xylophone

Your parents' home was owned as tenants-in-common.

This gave either parent the ability to leave his/her beneficial interest by will to any beneficiary.

Your father's will left his interest to your mother so that she became the sole beneficial and legal owner of the property.

See https://www.land-registry-documents.co.uk/information/joint-ownership-tennants/

Two things are required to remove a form A restriction. First, the owner or owners need to sign Land Registry form RX4 and second, the owner(s) needs to swear a “Statutory Declaration as to Equitable Title”. Swearing means signing in the presence of a solicitor and a statutory declaration is a sworn statement of fact, like an affidavit. The statement confirms that the owner(s) is fully entitled to the equity in the property no third party not named on the title is entitled to a share. To be valid it needs to be worded in a particular way and should be drafted by a solicitor. Note that the solicitor in the presence of who the declaration is sworn cannot draft the document.

Ridders

Thank you, I'm looking at RX4 now. It has a section asking us to list documents lodged with this form, but there are no explanatory notes so don't know what is needed.

Or should we just employ a solicitor to do the whole thing on her behalf?

Alternatively, is it something we could just leave until such time as we need to sell the house? All a bit morbid to ask, but what would happen if mum were to pass away without doing anything? Her will leaves her estate to me or my children (I have no siblings and there are no other beneficiaries), depending on who pre-deceases who. Would there then be a problem sorting out the estate if we don't tackle removing the restriction now?

xylophone

If your mother wished to sell the house at some point in the future, it might make the process simpler if the property had been registered in your mother's sole name with the restriction removed.

A local firm of solicitors would probably have at least two partners so that one could draft the Declaration and your mother could swear as to its truth in the presence of the other?

You might ring round locally and compare fees?

getmore4less

xylophone wrote: »

If your mother wished to sell the house at some point in the future, it might make the process simpler if the property had been registered in your mother's sole name with the restriction removed.

A local firm of solicitors would probably have at least two partners so that one could draft the Declaration and your mother could swear as to its truth in the presence of the other?

You might ring round locally and compare fees?

The solicitors(big one) we use in Norwich won't do that.

It is common for each practice to have a relationship with another practice locally where they pop over and swear paying the statutory fee(£5 in cash) for each person swearing.


Selling the house with the form A restriction is straight forward as it just needs another person to act as second trustee.

TBagpuss

Ridders wrote: »

Thank you, I'm looking at RX4 now. It has a section asking us to list documents lodged with this form, but there are no explanatory notes so don't know what is needed.

Or should we just employ a solicitor to do the whole thing on her behalf?

Alternatively, is it something we could just leave until such time as we need to sell the house? All a bit morbid to ask, but what would happen if mum were to pass away without doing anything? Her will leaves her estate to me or my children (I have no siblings and there are no other beneficiaries), depending on who pre-deceases who. Would there then be a problem sorting out the estate if we don't tackle removing the restriction now?

The document lodged will probably need to be a copy of the will to prove that your mum is thebeneficiary, and a copy of the death certificate or grant of probate to show that your dad has passed and the will is effective.

If it isn't done now, then your mum's executors will have to do something similar when she passes.
It's sensible to get it donbe now, and if your mum doesn't already have powers of attorney setup, talk to her about doing that , too, so that if she becomes unwell and isn't able to manager her own affairs in future you can do so for her.

Land_Registry

Ridders wrote: »

My dad died in June. He and my mum owned their house outright and the house was in joint names as tenants in common. The will left everything to my mum.

We filled out a form to register the death of a joint owner but mum has now had a letter back telling her that there is a restriction that cannot be removed "no disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate under which capital money arises is to he registered except under an order of the Court".

This letter is in legal speak and we haven't a clue what to do now, if anything. There is another paragraph that says the restriction will no longer be required if the remaining owner is sole beneficiary, which she is.

My question is really whether enough has been done, or whether we now have to do something to prove she is sole beneficiary. She has no intention of selling currently, but what would happen if she does decide to one day?

Any advice much appreciated ��

The restriction is known as a form A restriction. It restricts a sole surviving owner from dealing with the property where that involves receipt of (capital) monies. In layman's terms she can't sell or mortgage it by herself.

Whether you do anything more now or later is very much up to you, for example
If she intends to remain in the property and not sell/mortgage it then she can leave as is. The form A will only click in if she chose to do either.

If she has inherited his beneficial share so that she is now the sole legal and beneficial owner and she wants to update everything to match then she can apply to remove the form A as per the letter received - our Practice Guide 6 section 7 also refers

Note that is is a form RX3 (not RX4) that would be required along with a statement of truth or statutory declaration.
The letter received will have advised what was required and we would not want to see the will for example and we don't need to see the death certificate again as that has already been used to update the register
The letter and guide do not refer to a routine matter and as such the wording can be technical/confusing and we would often refer readers to using a solicitor for example.
However she does not have to do so as a statement of truth can be downloaded from the website and completed in accordance with the guidance - just follow and cover off each bullet point in section 7 of the PG 6.

If you left it as is then should she die then the restriction will have the same effect and restrict you, as her executor.

The other option, should she decide to sell, is that she can appoint someone to act with her as part of that process and together they take receipt of the (capital) monies. By appointing a co-trustee they are then selling as joint owners so the form A would not prevent the sale/purchase.

So my advice is that if you can complete forms RX3 and ST5 according to the linked guidance then that would be your next step.
If the wording/bullet points remain confusing then a legal adviser familiar with death/wills would be able to assist

The wider points made by others re a LPA to cover health and financial/property matters going forward is also recommended although not within my remit to advise further upon.

Ridders

Thanks so much for the extremely thorough response Land Registry, that has really cleared things up. Will be giving it a go in the next few days.