Advice on transfer of ownership ?

tjcp

My partner and I jointly own a property with no mortgage. I want to transfer full ownership to him with no exchange of money but without using a solicitor. Do you think this should be straightforward ? Am I right that I only need to fill in 2 forms -

1. a transfer of equity form TR1 for the Land Registry
and
2. an inland revenue form?? to say no money has changed hands

Any help/tips would be appreciated.

Kaz2904

It seems that you are putting yourself in a very risky situation by doing this?
I've no ideas how you go about it but would be wary of doing it anyway.

tjcp

I should have said that I have bought another property in my own name and that is why I want to give full ownership of the other house to my partner.

silvercar

Stamp duty payable if the value of the transfer is over 125,000.

Richard_Webster

As a conveyancing solicitor in one sense I don't want to lose business for the profession!.... but I do have to be sensible about what is realistically possible for the average lay person. I think this is something that a lot of people could do themselves - the existence of a mortgage normally means a solicitor has to be involved, but if no mortgage then it is a lot simpler.

Get TR1 and AP1 forms off the Land Registry website and you will also need a SDLT60 form (this is the shorter stamp duty form that you can fill in for various cases like gifts) - you may be able to get it from the HMRC website, I'm not sure.

Phone the local Land Registry enquiries and explain what you want to do, the chances are they will help you to complete the TR1 and AP1 forms. There might be disclaimers about not giving you legal advice, but despite that they are usually very helpful.

If your partner sells the property in 5 years then they may have to get you to do a declaration of solvency and provide an indemnity insuracne to cover the theoretical possibility that you did the transfer to avoid your creditors!

tjcp

Thankyou very much Richard. That was just the kind of advice I needed. Normally I would always use a professional but in this case it seems so straight forward that I was loathe to pay out £300+.

ZCC72

tjcp wrote: »

I should have said that I have bought another property in my own name and that is why I want to give full ownership of the other house to my partner.

Do you have a mortgage on the other property? Are you each living in a property, or are you renting one out?

I ask these because (a) if you have a mortgage on the other property, you have transferred all your equity in the existing property to your partner, which presumably you are entitled to a share of. It may be worth looking at either placing a charge on the property OR more realistically, transferring the property to him, subject to a restriction so that if he were to sell/remortgage, etc, he would need your written authority; and (b) if you are renting out the new property, and you exceed the tax threshold, you will be liaible for extra tax and also your mortgage lender will need to be notified, so that you are not in breach of contract.

Sorry for the personal questions!

As with Richards reply, this does not constitute legal advice, and I would recommend you speak with your solicitor! Oh, and yes, the SDLT 60 is available on the HMRC website....

Richard_Webster

OR more realistically, transferring the property to him, subject to a restriction so that if he were to sell/remortgage, etc, he would need your written authority;

If you want to protect your position vis a vis your partner then this one thing you could do - and there are always possible relationship issues - you have to be pretty sure of your relationship to shunt properties around between you like this. My earlier post assumed that you simply wanted to know about the mechanics.

tjcp

Both houses are owned outright with no mortgages and are roughly the same value. Our money is already invested 50/50 but the house situation causes an imbalance in my favour hence I need to transfer ownership. We have a long standing trusting relationship but as we are not married we are trying to limit Inheritance Tax if/when one of us dies.

Thanks again for replies.

takoo

Hi JTCP

Three points to watch and consider:

1 stamp duty land tax - be sure to complete the forms if necessary within the time limit - there are penalties for late payment on non-submission of form

2 inheritance tax - if you die within seven years there may be a IHT liability on your estate - it seems like a potentially exempt transfer. Do you or your partner need insurance to cover the possible charge

3 capital gains tax - check that you are exempt - Also whether or not you will have to pay CGT on the other house - Do you have to choose which is you sole or main residence etc?

Hope this helps

Takoo

tjcp

Thanks Takoo.

I'm OK with capital gains as the joint house was my main residence and now I've opted for my new house to be the main res.

When I checked the fees with my solicitor he told me there would be no stamp duty to pay, so I'll take that as read although I'm not sure why.

The 7 year inheritance rule is a possible problem , I'll have to look into that.
I don't think this will put me off though.