Complicated house ownership or not?

MMH22

My Father has suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. He left a will leaving everything to my Mother. His cash assets are over £325k.  
While I stilled lived with my parents in the early 2000 my father purchased a plot of land using his and my money, the land was registered in my name.  My father was a builder and over the next few years built the house we all finally moved into around 2005, there has not been any mortgage on the house.  Initially all utilities where in my name. Then I moved out in 2008 buying my own property.  My parents remained at the same house.

The land is still registered in my name.  My parents haven’t ever paid me rent, my parents gave my a lump sum in 2008 that I used to buy the house I moved into. 

My question is, does the house my father lived in need to go into his estate?  If it does, does it go as joint owned with myself or with my Mother?  Apart from this question my fathers estate is just a couple of bank accounts and seems very straight forwards if all going directly to my Mother  I was hoping as Executor along with my Mother to do probate myself, if the house issue is straightforward, just completing the IHT205 form if I have understood everything correctly.

Alter_ego

Assuming the house is registered at the land registry you will find the registered owner's names there.

MMH22

Alter_ego said:

Assuming the house is registered at the land registry you will find the registered owner's names there.

Yes, the land is registered at the land registry with ownership under my name.  Does this mean that it does not have to be included in my Fathers estate although he lived there for the past 15years?

Alter_ego

MMH22 said:

Alter_ego said:

Assuming the house is registered at the land registry you will find the registered owner's names there.

Yes, the land is registered at the land registry with ownership under my name.  Does this mean that it does not have to be included in my Fathers estate although he lived there for the past 15years?

Does that mean the house is on the deed? Or just the land?

pphillips

MMH22 said:

Alter_ego said:

Assuming the house is registered at the land registry you will find the registered owner's names there.

Yes, the land is registered at the land registry with ownership under my name.  Does this mean that it does not have to be included in my Fathers estate although he lived there for the past 15years?

The land was given to you by your father as a gift with reservation of benefit and will be included in his estate for inheritance tax purposes as he continued to retain the use of it until his death.

MMH22

Alter_ego, thank you for your reply, the house is registered with the local council, I’m not sure what you mean by the term ‘deeds’? The only thing registered with the land registry is the ownership of the land. 

Pphillips, thank you for your reply too, if the land was jointly purchased with money from myself and my father, I’m  not sure how I’d find this evidence, do I need too? And I’m assuming it was money from my father and not my mothers bank account does 100% of the value of the house go down on his estate?  Starting to think this is not straight forward? 

pphillips

MMH22 said:

Alter_ego, thank you for your reply, the house is registered with the local council, I’m not sure what you mean by the term ‘deeds’? The only thing registered with the land registry is the ownership of the land. 

Pphillips, thank you for your reply too, if the land was jointly purchased with money from myself and my father, I’m  not sure how I’d find this evidence, do I need too? And I’m assuming it was money from my father and not my mothers bank account does 100% of the value of the house go down on his estate?  Starting to think this is not straight forward? 

I don't think HMRC will ask for evidence at this stage. My understanding is that you will first need to identify the gift from your father and then calculate the loss to his estate. This might not be straightforward, especially if the gift was mixed with your money and your mothers money.

xylophone

You and your father (and mother?) put up the cash to buy a plot of land and  he built a dwelling house for your joint occupation. Did your parents pay all the costs of construction etc?

Should a plan of the property not be shown on the details at the LR?

 The ownership of land/house is registered in your sole name.

Therefore your father (and mother?) made you a gift from which he/they continued to benefit. 
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm04071

The subsequent gift of money (from both parents?) was an outright gift made well over seven years ago so becomes an exempt transfer.

It would seem that when you moved out of the family home you became your parents' landlord and are now your mother's landlord?

getmore4less

Don't forget legal ownership and beneficial ownership are seperate. 
Legal owners don't become landlords of benefitial owners. 

xylophone

benefitial owners. 

But the parents were not the beneficial owners of the land or the house?

It appears that the land/house both belong to the son (OP) (and indeed he seems to have paid all the utility bills while he was resident). 

getmore4less

No mention of the beneficial interest of the portion of the land paid for by the father or the property that was built on it being gifted.
if it was then there is going to be gift with reservation and/or preowned asset to deal with.