Inform Land Registry of Death of Tenant in Common?

frankiecat

My father passed away 6 years ago (just after the start of the pandemic).  He and my mother owned their home as tenants in common since 2016 – they severed the joint tenancy at that point; they had mirror wills in place naming my sister and I as beneficiaries of his share.  A solicitor handled all this for them.

After his death should we have informed Land Registry and amended ownership of the property to show my mother (50%) and myself and my sister (25% each)?  Is it something we need to do retrospectively?  Have we broken any laws? 

There was no advice given to me, but I do remember being told probate wasn’t needed.  Land Registry just never crossed my mind at the time of dealing with his affairs.  This has only come to light as my husband is dealing with his mother’s affairs after her recent death.

Thank you for any assistance

Flugelhorn

I think the only thing that needs registering is the IPDI trust (I assume there is one) 

user1977

No real need to update the Land Registry until you have a transaction which requires it.

Keep_pedalling

Your father’s will created an immediate post death interest trust. You and your sibling do not own any of it at the moment legal ownership of your father’s share lies within the trust and beneficial ownership with your mother. You could change the LR to show this but it is not a legal requirement.

What is a legal requirement is for the trust to be registered with HMRC. This became a requirement in Oct 2020. 

p00hsticks

Flugelhorn said:

I think the only thing that needs registering is the IPDI trust (I assume there is one) 

For the OP - this would be created automatically if the will gave the surviving spouse the right to continue living in the property....

Dead_keen

frankiecat said:

My father passed away 6 years ago (just after the start of the pandemic).  He and my mother owned their home as tenants in common since 2016 – they severed the joint tenancy at that point; they had mirror wills in place naming my sister and I as beneficiaries of his share.  A solicitor handled all this for them.

After his death should we have informed Land Registry and amended ownership of the property to show my mother (50%) and myself and my sister (25% each)?  Is it something we need to do retrospectively?  Have we broken any laws? 

There was no advice given to me, but I do remember being told probate wasn’t needed.  Land Registry just never crossed my mind at the time of dealing with his affairs.  This has only come to light as my husband is dealing with his mother’s affairs after her recent death.

Thank you for any assistance

My 2p:

1. If your dad's name is still on the Land Registry, it doesn't help prevent fraud prevention.  I would change that with the Deceased joint proprietor (DJP) form from the Land Registry.

2. Then there is a question of what do you mean you and your sister own 25% each.  If I beneficially owned 25% of the property I would definitely want to be registered at the Land Registry as the legal owner.  

3. As some have mentioned, your father's will may have created a trust as a way of allowing your mum to live in the house for the rest of her life and you and your sister only get the ownership of the house after she dies. Wills are bespoke things though and so your dad's may be different.  The trust itself is not registered at the Land Registry, but see below about trustees registering.  

4. If you mum tries to sell the property (in her own right or as the only trustee for the trust I made up in 3. above), and there is a Form A restriction (common with tenants in common) then she may need appoint a second trustee and get them registered at the Land Registry before she can sell.  This doesn't need to be done now, just nearer to to the time of sale.

5. If I was a trustee, I would definitely want to make my name registered with the Land Registry.  

6. No laws have been broken as far as the Land Registry side of life is concerned by not changing anything.

If your mum is the only trustee, there are lots of good reasons for getting a second (or more) trustee sooner rather than later (e.g. loss of capacity) and registering an LPA may be helpful too.

@Land_Registry knows everything!

Land_Registry

The other posters have all covered it from a HMLR perspective - here's my response to your OP

After his death should we have informed Land Registry and amended ownership of the property to show my mother (50%) and myself and my sister (25% each)?  - you can but you don't have to. The death is very sadly factual and can be proven at any time as and when the property is dealt with. 

We deal with the legal ownership which passed to your Mother to deal with following his death. The mirror wills, trust created and % shares all relate to their beneficial ownerships. These are often protected by the form A/joint ownership restriction others have referred to and which many then relate to the term 'tenants in common'. 

Is it something we need to do retrospectively?  Have we broken any laws? - No

There was no advice given to me, but I do remember being told probate wasn’t needed.  Land Registry just never crossed my mind at the time of dealing with his affairs. - Probate in this scenario would only be needed should your Mother pass away. Probate is only required when the registered legal ownership is reduced to one. 

We can't advise on that legal owners/beneficiaries/trustees should do in such cases. We deal with the outcome of such decision-making so IF the legal ownership was to be transferred to new legal owners then your Mother would do that as appropriate e.g. Mother transfers to herself and your late Father's beneficiaries. 

In my experience, purely from dealing with such enquiries, some do and some don't as it often depends on other matters such as the wills, the trust, tax implications and also whether the beneficiaries want to be a legal owner/have their own property already or want to be a first-time buyer at a later date 

frankiecat

Thank you everyone for your replies to my query.  I'll use all that information and get everything in order.

RAS

You need to read dad's will, and perhaps take a copy to a solicitor so that you and sis understand exactly what it means.

This is because the terms of the trust holding his part of the house are defined by what's in his will, not what people who haven't seen it but have dealt with another think it might say.

We are assuming that his will allows mum to reside and created as IPDI trust? There was a recent case here where that didn't happen. Find out from the solicitor.

The exact terms of an IDPI trust are defined in the will. Does it allow her to sell and downsize? Does she get to benefit from the income from capital if she downsizes, or goes into care? Ask the solicitor.

Mum is probably the sole owner and trustee at present and you and sister are the remaindermen. Confirm that with the solicitor.

There's no legal requirement to appoint or register other trustees on the deeds at this point. But we have seen other cases where the sole trustee has appointed some other than the remindermen, sold the property and ignored the trust. So you might want her to add you as trustees and the form A restriction protecting your interest. 

The law is clear but enforcing it can be costly. Everything now is fine but she could remarry etc, and things change.

If there is an IPDI trust, that needs registering with HMRC as soon as possible. They gave existing trusts 2 years to comply, so there may be a penalty. Get it sorted now and ask forbearance and you may be fortunate. Better than them finding out, when they are more likely to enforce.