Does being on the land registry mean I own the property

Turnipician

Hi - This may be a bit of an obvious one but I am registered with the Land Registry on my mother's property. 
Does this mean I own the property? I am saving on a lifetime ISA which I will not be allowed to use to get a mortgage on a property if I own another propertybut I wasn't sure if my name needs to be on the deeds (or something similar) to actually own it. If I do own it  I'll save elsewhere.

AdrianC

Yes, it does.

"Deeds" were the old paper predecessor to LR registration.

TBagpuss

Yes- being registered at the land registry is the equivalent of being on the deeds. You will also be liable to CGT when the property is eventually sold or transferred, if your interest in the property has increased in value since you were added to the deeds, unless you were living there as your primary home (If you lived there for some of your ownership then any CGT would be worked out based on what proportion of the time you lived there)  

GDB2222

The above answers are a bit simplistic. Why exactly are you registered on the LR? It is conceivable that you are registered as a trustee, for example. So, just being registered does not answer the correct question, which is whether you have a beneficial interest in the property?

The most likely explanation is that you do have a beneficial interest of course. So Adrian and Bagpuss are probably right, in practice.

AnotherJoe

Is this a ruse to evade care fees that's now going to bite you in the butt? In which case it ISNT your mothers property. Its yours. She just happens to live there. And also its very unlikely to work re care home fees as well.

getmore4less

A very common scenario  is trustee of a IPDI trust.
where a parent has predeceased and put there share in a life interest trust
the life tenant holds the beneficial interest and the trustee has no interest(even if a remainderman) and retains all their FTB status. 

The question to answer is why/how did you become a registered legal owner?

You seem to be surprised you would have had to sign the transfer docs.

SDLT_Geek

If OP has a beneficial interest in OP's mother's home then it is likely that the 3% surcharge to SDLT would apply (if OP is buying in England).  It would depend on the details of the ownership.

Mrs_Bood

In case this helps: My situation is that I am the trustee of my mother’s house and on the title. I am also listed as a beneficiary, but my mother is entitled to all income from the property during her lifetime so I am a remainder beneficiary (although that phrase is not used in the document itself). The trust is a Flexible Life Interest Trust. 

The legal advice I have had is that HMRC guidance doesn’t differentiate between a remainder beneficiary and any other beneficiary for the purposes of FTB SDLT relief. Thus when I come to buy a property for myself (unrelated to the trust) am not entitled to FTB relief as I am a beneficiary of the trust. It’s the beneficiary part that’s important, not name on the title. 

However as my mother has the life interest in the property, the second home surcharge does not apply to me when I purchase my own property (separate from the trust). 

getmore4less

Mrs_Bood said:

In case this helps: My situation is that I am the trustee of my mother’s house and on the title. I am also listed as a beneficiary, but my mother is entitled to all income from the property during her lifetime so I am a remainder beneficiary (although that phrase is not used in the document itself). The trust is a Flexible Life Interest Trust. 

The legal advice I have had is that HMRC guidance doesn’t differentiate between a remainder beneficiary and any other beneficiary for the purposes of FTB SDLT relief. Thus when I come to buy a property for myself (unrelated to the trust) am not entitled to FTB relief as I am a beneficiary of the trust. It’s the beneficiary part that’s important, not name on the title. 

However as my mother has the life interest in the property, the second home surcharge does not apply to me when I purchase my own property (separate from the trust). 

interesting because with a regular life interest trust any remaindermen have no beneficial interest until the life tenant dies(or the trust dissolved).

 causes complications should a remainderman die before the life tenant there will be new remaindermen  

have seen it mentioned in guidance but no reference to which laws back this up.

Turnipician

Thanks for all your advice.  

My dad has advanced dementia and my mum was advised to get me on the land registry instead of him (they purchased together) for inheritance purposes in case she passed away first. He’s now in care but she resides in the flat alone. That’s the context. Regardless the specifics I guess I have to do some digging. 

RAS

You need to find out who advised mum and exactly what she did. Maybe talk to the advisor?

It may be one of the schemes designed to prevent the flat being sold to pay dad's care fees if she dies first. It may well be classed as deprivation of assets anyway. And meantime you can't use a LISA and may well have to pay the 3% second home SDLT charge as well.

Might have been better to sever the tenancy and leave her half to you, accepting dad's half will go on fees if he survives.