Tenants in common?? How to find out if this is valid

landiehot45

My father married a second time he owned a house and thinks his second wife got him to sign a ‘tenants in common’ form? He is not sure as it was a long time ago. His wife died over 5 years ago and doesn’t know about any will or deeds to the house or anything! His deceased wife had children who took over when their mother was unwell. I would like to know how I find out what my father rights are regarding the house and how to tell if there is a ‘tenants in common’ in place and can my father own his whole house again? I don’t know where to start ? Any help would be appreciated.

xylophone

Check the Land Registry.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Registered proprietor(s)?

Is a Form A restriction shown?

doodling

Hi,

There are two ways of owning a house with someone else.

One is "Joint Tenants" where both own the whole house, in this case when one person dies then the other person becomes the sole owner.  In this case, a will (or the laws of intestacy if there is no will) does not (cannot) determine what happens to the house, it just becomes fully owned by the other person when one person dies.

The other is "Tenants in Common" where each person owns a proportion of the house (assumed to be 50/50 in the case of two people, unless there is an agreement otherwise).  In the "Tenants in Common" case, a persons share is part of their estate and then can leave it to whoever they want in their will (or if they had no will then it is passed on according to the law of intestacy).

You can determine how a house is held by looking at the exact wording on the land registry title (£3 from the UK gov website - make sure you don't get ripped off by a fake site) (assuming that the property was registered) - someone else will need to tell you exactly what wording is applicable to what type of ownership, it isn't immediately clear.  If the property wasn't registered (this will only be the case if it hasn't changed hands since the 1980s) then you'll need to locate the deeds.

Note that someone can decide to change the ownership from Joint Tenants to Tenants in Common without the agreement of the other owner.

If there was a will which affected ownership of the house then it will have gone through probate at the time - copies of wills are available from the UK gov website for £1.50 if you know the name and date of death.

If you father bought the house then I'd expect him to know how he owned it and whether his wife had part ownership - it might be worth going over this with him to understand the timeline of events.  It also seems a little unusual that he didn't know if his wife had a will or what it said.

If the house was owned as Tenants in Common with his wife then her portion will be owned by whoever it was given to in her will.  If there was no will then that portion may have ended up back with him again when she died.

The best way forward is probably to get the title documents from the land registry, check on the UK gov website for a will and then seek further advice on exactly what that reveals.

landiehot45

Thankyou that’s a great help it gives me a good start. My father is very old and confused about everything so as I presumed he would of sorted his affairs out I didn’t see it as my business until now 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😊 Thankyou again for your help

landiehot45

On the land register it says .. under the heading Proprietorship register.
This register specifies the class of title and identifies the owner. It contains any entries that affect the right of disposal.

title absolute 

1. date, name of farther and wife ,address of property.
2. Date. Value.

3. date. Restriction. No disposition by 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.

end of register 

Can anyone put this into simple terms please. 

doodling

Hi,

I think that means that your father owns the property as Tenants in Common with his wife.  As his wife has passed away then the next question is "who now owns his wife's share".  You'll need to find out if his wife had a will and what it said to answer that question.

Keep_pedalling

landiehot45 said:

On the land register it says .. under the heading Proprietorship register.
This register specifies the class of title and identifies the owner. It contains any entries that affect the right of disposal.

title absolute 

1. date, name of farther and wife ,address of property.
2. Date. Value.

3. date. Restriction. No disposition by 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.

end of register 

Can anyone put this into simple terms please. 

Well it looks like the house was owned by them as TiC, but the big question is did your step mother have a will and if so who did she leave her share too? If you don’t know you need to check the probate records of her estate.

landiehot45

Thankyou how do I check probate records never had to deal with this 

doodling

Hi,

landiehot45 said:

Thankyou how do I check probate records never had to deal with this 

Try: Search probate records for documents and wills (England and Wales) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

castle96

"Note that someone can decide to change the ownership from Joint Tenants to Tenants in Common without the agreement of the other owner."

!!!!!!!!!!! IS this really true? Surely not !

xylophone

Note that someone can decide to change the ownership from Joint Tenants to Tenants in Common without the agreement of the other owner."
!!!!!!!!!!! IS this really true? Surely not !

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common

Change from joint tenants to tenants in common

This is called ‘severance of joint tenancy’. You should apply for a ‘Form A restriction’.

You can make this change without the other owners’ agreement.