First time Rental self assessment question

Tiffster

Hello,

I have a few questions regarding self assessment when you have rental income.

I myself do self assessment every year as i have job expenses into the thousands. Never have any problems in doing so.

In March 2019 my partner and i moved into a new property that we bought together, joint mortgage etc. Part of this meant renting out her old flat and thus receiving rental income. In order for the mortgage on the new property we bought to go through however we had to put her old flat into both of our names (dealing with the same bank on both mortgages etc) to make the bank happy.

This meant that as we both "own" the old flat (she transfer half of it to my name) we both had to register as Landlords for renting it out. However my partner receives all of the rental income after the letting agent has done there bit. All of the invoices for the letting agent etc literally everything is in her name.

SO, when it comes to do self assessment in April, do i just leave the rental income section blank as technically i receive nothing ? Does my partner do self assessment wholly on her own for the income or do we need to do some sort of joint assessment ?

oldbikebloke

I assume you are not legally married, so in principle the income can be split however you want it to be, she can indeed take it all (and of course she has then to also take all the expenses).
read "Jointly owned property: no partnership"
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/property-income-manual/pim1030

if you are married to her, then read the section at the bottom as the rules are different for married couples

Tiffster

No we are not married, have been together 9 years.

I just want to be sure what to do come self assessment time. I do it yearly so it's not a problem me helping her do it.

So can i just essentially tick NO at the rental income section and my partner does it on her own assessment ? Having dealt with HMRC for years i fear splitting rental income between two people at self assessment would make it unnecessarily complicated.

oldbikebloke

I have given you the answer above, please read it, and the link....

Dazed_and_C0nfused

 i fear splitting rental income between two people at self assessment would make it unnecessarily complicated.

You are over thinking that element.  There is no "joint" assesment as referred to in your original post.  All you would do is each complete a rental income page as part of your respective Self Assessment returns.

But that may not be necessary in your particular circumstances.

Tiffster

I did, from my understanding (possibly wrong) i can own 50% of the property but receive 0% of the income but i need to inform HMRC of this ?

oldbikebloke

Tiffster said:

I did, from my understanding (possibly wrong) i can own 50% of the property but receive 0% of the income but i need to inform HMRC of this ?

what is the format of your legal ownership?
a) Joint Tenants 
or 
b) Tenants In Common?
if you don't know the difference then you need to teach yourself because it will impact your CGT when you sell as you state "50%" but if b) it may not be if you have a declaration of trust in place. If you do then the following comment is wrong, as a DoT supersedes your choice to declare zero since, by definition, the DoT says what the share is for both capital and income 

for SA purposes, the question asked is:  

Did you receive income from UK land and/or property (including income from foreign property) over £1,000? Answer: yes or no.

so, pretty obvious what your answer is (if no DoT), and therefore whether you should (hint: not) submit that section of an SA 

you are not required to notify joint ownership of property that produces zero income. You can if wish, voluntarily note that on the free text "additional info" box on the SA, but doing so achieves nothing. you are neither married to her, nor in a formal (business) partnership with here and therefore her tax affairs are hers alone and not for you to report on, including you declaring a non existent interest in her property income.