Advice on transfer of ownership ?

Smi1er

Richard is spot on, but remember you will have a Land Registry fee to pay.

I did exactly this last year and the LR fee was £50... If you need any help completing the forms then call Land Registry, they are very helpful

ZCC72

Hi there tjcp, a few more thoughts for you....

You advise you are trying to limit IHT - are there children involved? I ask this because presumably you would each want to provide for them. If you both have Wills whereby you leave your property to each other, (and then the children if applicable) and each individuals estate is over the thresh-hold, then IHT will be payable. However, if you owned each property together, as Joint Tenants, then the rules of survivorship would apply, and IHT would only be payable upon the death of the remaining owner. Either way, it would be payable - unless of course, each estate was under the threshold and left to some-one else....
Let me know if I have misunderstood!

localhero

Hi TJCP,

Now that you've both equalised the value of your estates, you should set up (if you haven't already done so) Wills so that the first to die leaves the maximum possible without incurring IHT into a discretionary trust.

The surviving partner can then borrow the assets of the trust with a promise to repay it when they die. That way, a combined estate of £600,000 can avoid up to £120,000 in IHT.

The reason that there's no stamp duty is because it was a gift and the property doesn't have a mortgage. For if there was a mortgage for say £250,000 then the transferee (ie the person acquiring the gift) will be deemed to be 'paying' £125,000 for the property. A mortgage on the property for less than £250,000 will escape stamp duty in any case.

Anon

EDITED WITH ANSWERS

Thank you for the clear advice on this thread - you appear as helpful as the gang on the Cutting Tax board.

A quick question if anyone knows please as we have been discussing something similar on the tax board and TR1 doesn't come with any guidance notes (nor can I seem to find any on the Land Registry website unless I am just being particularly dim today!) ). With the same scenario above (owned outright, complete TR1, AP1 and SDLT60 to transfer):

1. In box 1, which option do you tick for a no loss/gain transfer between spouses - I believe this one:It is certified that this instrument falls within category L* in the Schedule to the Stamp Duty (Exempt Instruments) Regulations 1987. I believe L is the correct option which reads " The conveyance or transfer of property operating as a voluntary disposition inter vivos for no consideration referred to in section 57 of the Stamp Act 1891 (conveyance in consideration of a debt etc.)". CORRECT
2. Box 4 Date - can you put any date you like or simply today's date (looking to transfer before 5th April due to changes in CGT legislation on indexation). DATE OF EXECUTION
3. Box 13 Execution - looking at the guidance, there is a specific form of words that you have to put in here - is this correct (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/031417bi.gif option A)
Signed as a deed by NAME Signature ________________
in the presence of:
Signature of Witness
Name (of witness)
Address (of witness) CORRECT

Apologies if this is asking too much but I am trying to save money on fees - I do appreciate your response. I understand from Land Registry that even completing the forms ourselves we would still need to visit a solicitor to prove our identity - how much is that please (ballpark - I realise different companies will charge different amounts)? STILL DON'T KNOW BUT LAND REGISTRY IS FREE

Many thanks

Anon

mkenny

I was quoted £5 per signature and a couple of pounds on top of that. In effect nothing really.

Bobross

Hi Richard,

My sister wants to transfer the ownership of her flat to me so that I could I could get a secured loan on the property. I need this loan to pay off service charge debt. She can not take the own by herself
because she is not UK citizen, I am citizen tho.

Given that we owe this money to service charge company, would this transfer of ownership go ahead ok? I would be more than happy to take responsibilities as far as the service charge debt is concerned.

The service charge company has not still gone ahead with legal proceedings, just a letter from a solicitor on their behalf giving me a deadline to clear off debt or the solicitor will go ahead with the legal proceedings)

Thank you for your help.

Bob

Richard_Webster wrote: »

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!

hazyjo

A new thread might have been better than digging out one that's three years old. I've just read all the above not realising it was ancient...

Jx