Deed says Jointly & Severally

sonbon

Hi, My husband is in a care home and they have just been on about the fees and the house I live in. Initially it was in my sole name but when we got an Equity Release for my daughter 10 years later it appears that the new Deeds state that my husband owns it Jointly & severally. Obviously He made no contributions to the purchase initially and I am sure I told the Solicitor that I wanted it as Tenants in Common so he would only own a small share of the house if I passed. Now the Social Security people are saying that he owns 50% and should I try to sell this house they would want his 50% share.
Any ideas on what I can do. He has dementia so cannot sign anything. Am I stuck here until he or I die??? Deeds were altered in 2018.
Thanks

Voyager2002

Contact the solicitor who processed the equity release. If necessary follow the complaints process.

MyRealNameToo

sonbon said:

Hi, My husband is in a care home and they have just been on about the fees and the house I live in. Initially it was in my sole name but when we got an Equity Release for my daughter 10 years later it appears that the new Deeds state that my husband owns it Jointly & severally. Obviously He made no contributions to the purchase initially and I am sure I told the Solicitor that I wanted it as Tenants in Common so he would only own a small share of the house if I passed. Now the Social Security people are saying that he owns 50% and should I try to sell this house they would want his 50% share.
Any ideas on what I can do. He has dementia so cannot sign anything. Am I stuck here until he or I die??? Deeds were altered in 2018.
Thanks

Get a copy of the deeds from the land registry, ensure its them themselves not a third party reselling them. This will tell you if it's a joint tenancy or tenants in common. 

If its tenants in common you should have a separate deed not held by the LR which stipulates what percentage each of you own, in the absence of such a deed then you'd hold equal share (ie 50/50 fi there are two of you)

Alternatively contact the solicitor that dealt with it for you and ensure that they followed the instructions of tenants in common and produced the deed for the shares. 

Keep_pedalling

Jointly and severally refers to the ER loan not how the house is owned. 

Regardless of that it should not matter how the house is owned as far as care fees are concerned because the house is disregarded while you are still living there regardless of the type of ownership you have (even if it was in his sole name).