Title Deeds

titledeeds

Hi, I am a beneficiary to a property that was jointly owned by the deceased and another person. As the other person is elderly and remains living in the house, the decision was made to not claim the inheritance on the deceased half share until she had passed. I have paid inheritance tax to HMRC for this already. Since his passing, the title deeds no longer possess his name and have changed to the sole possession of the existing owner. The deed now says Title Absolute. Does this effect my inheritance claim on the property upon her death?

Flugelhorn

Are you sure that you own it? if it was jointly owned originally  then the whole property will have passed to the remaining person on the death of the first . Or was it tenants in common? in which case there would have been a marker on the register indicating this and they wouldn't have been able to change the ownership 

Marcon

titledeeds said:

Hi, I am a beneficiary to a property that was jointly owned by the deceased and another person. As the other person is elderly and remains living in the house, the decision was made to not claim the inheritance on the deceased half share until she had passed. I have paid inheritance tax to HMRC for this already. Since his passing, the title deeds no longer possess his name and have changed to the sole possession of the existing owner. The deed now says Title Absolute. Does this effect my inheritance claim on the property upon her death?

This sounds a bit muddled. Normally the estate would have paid the IHT, not you personally, on something if bequeathed to you in a will.

Not sure what you mean by 'not claiming' the inheritance - please could you clarify?

On what basis are you a beneficiary (that's a question, not some sort of challenge!) - were you named in 'his' will and was the property originally held as tenants in common, meaning that 'he' could dispose of his half? If it was held as joint tenants, then that wasn't an option. What does the will of the lady who has just died say, assuming you have this information?

titledeeds

Hi, sorry perhaps more detail would help. I was left in the will of the gentleman that died his half of the property ( owned jointly with his previous partner as tenants in common). As the half left to me was valued over the 325k threshold I was required to pay HMRC inheritance tax. As I did not wish to go down the route of forcing sale to claim my half of the property whilst the lady was still living, I decided to do nothing until such time as either the lady wanted to sell or died ( she is elderly and has lived in the house for over 30 years). Since the gentleman passed away the title deeds have changed into solely the Ladies name and described as “Title Absolute” she is still living and remains in the house. The only addition to the title deeds is as follows-

 RESTRICTION: No disposition of the registered

estate, other than a disposition by the proprietor of

any registered charge registered before the entry

of this restriction, is to be registered without a

certificate signed by the applicant for registration

or their conveyancer that written notice of the

disposition was given to (the executor)

I am confused as to whether my half bequeathed by the now deceased gentleman is still safeguarded as I had read that a title absolute was only put in place if no one else had claim to it? 

RAS

@Land_Registry might be able to help. Normally, nothing needs altering at the Land Registry until the second death.

Who were the executors?

mattojgb

Your half is fine and is safeguarded by the restriction. The survivor of the tennants in common becomes sole legal owner (and cannot be forced to sell) and holds the remaining half on trust for the estate of the deceased. You are beneficially entitled to your share of the property. In the words of the Land Registry https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/devolution-on-the-death-of-a-registered-proprietor/practice-guide-6-devolution-on-the-death-of-a-registered-proprietor

"Where a legal estate is held by joint owners, on the death of one owner the legal estate vests in the survivor(s). In respect of the legal estate, it does not matter whether the owners were holding as beneficial joint tenants or tenants in common; a legal estate is indivisible (ss.1(6) and 36(2), Law of Property Act 1925). The executor or administrator of the deceased owner cannot convey a share in the legal estate. HM Land Registry will not require an administrator or executor of a deceased co-owner to join in a disposition."

The executor appears to have notified the Land Registry of the death and inserted a Form M restriction on the register to replace the From A restriction (which applies to property held as tennants in common).

poppystar

Who told you to pay inheritance tax on this? Unless you were the executor you wouldn’t have had contact with HMRC in this matter surely? 

Land_Registry

RAS said:

@Land_Registry might be able to help. Normally, nothing needs altering at the Land Registry until the second death.

Who were the executors?

A few things to perhaps comment on here that may assist although I would recommend that both you and the surviving owner seek legal advice not only to understand the current position but what happens as a result of future events inc care needed, death etc
We register the legal ownership so when one of two joint owners dies the legal ownership passes to the surviving owner - hence the register has been updated to just the one name. That happens whether they are joint tenants or tenants in common, two terms not actually referred to on the register.
Title Absolute relates to the class of title and is the most common title whereby ownership is guaranteed. It has no bearing on your circumstances and the 'claim' you refer to has nothing to do with your beneficial ownership, which is in effect the deceased's share in the value of the property. You are linking 'claim' to where someone claims ownership of land either through 'occupation of it' or where the deeds have been lost. Possessory title, not Absolute, is invariably awarded in such cases.
Where joint owners leave their beneficial share to someone else in their will then that can create a trust and in many cases a form A restriction is applied for to protect the trust created. It seems that has not happened here but that's fine as the will/trust/beneficial share still exists irrespective of whether a form A restriction does.
The restriction applied for was presumably applied for when the register was updated re the death and to protect the deceased's beneficial share/the trust created. And I assume the named executor is the deceased's executor and not for example you. If so then the restriction appears to protect the deceased's share and in essence you as the beneficiary
It also implies that the surviving owner/executor have taken advice and I would suggest speaking to both as appropriate to confirm
Note -see Practice guide 19: notices, restrictions and the protection of third-party interests in the register - GOV.UK for a list of standard restrictions that can be applied for as appropriate. Just for wider sharing as the fact that there is a restriction on the title that appear to relate to the death/executor is probably sufficient understanding for the OP