Transferring House From Single to Joint names

What is the procedure for transferring the family home from being in my name only to joint names with my wife.

Do u have to pay stamp duty on half the value or are there other taxes etc, other than legal costs?

Thanks in advance

Its pretty simple- but you do need a solicitor. Well I suppose you could try and diy but that would not be my recommendation.

If there is a mortgage, you will need to join the lender into the deed - thats a bit painful as the lenders are sort of reluctant to get involved in what is a tedious process for them. Often, people do the transfer when remortgaging - that is much simpler. There are no stamp duty or tax implications and there are no registration fees because its the transfer of a family home.

mf

What are the advantages of transferring a house into joint names?
I bought when I was single, and the house is in my name only.

Advantage is that if you die your spouse only has to produce a death cert to have the house put in her name. If you die being the sole owner ( assuming you have made a will or have no children) then she has to take out probate to your estate to have it put in her name which is time consuming and costly.

What about in the case where the couple are not married? I purchased my apartment, and am paying back the mortgage on my own, although my partner shares the apartment with me. If anything were to happen to me, I would like the apartment to go to my partner. However, I am aware that there would be costs associated with this (CGT? Why should I care, I won't be around ).

We have discussed putting the apartment in both of our names at some stage too - if we were to do this, would it involve any costs? Would it be a case that my partner would have to get a mortgage for half the value and 'buy out' my half share? Would my partner have to pay stamp duty and at what rate (I was an FTB buying the apartment and my partner would be an FTB). Would this be on half the purchase price or the full value.

Any help with this would be appreciated!

mf1 said:

Its pretty simple- but you do need a solicitor. Well I suppose you could try and diy but that would not be my recommendation.

If there is a mortgage...

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Do you need a solicitor even if the property is not mortgaged or can you do this by just contacting the Land Registry/Registry of Deeds? What might be a ballpark solicitor's fee for processing such a change in the mortgage and no mortgage cases if different?

jnh said:

What about in the case where the couple are not married?

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There would be tax and legal implications that would not apply in the married situation. You should get independent, professional advice on these tax and legal implications.

ClubMan said:

There would be tax and legal implications that would not apply in the married situation. You should get independent, professional advice on these tax and legal implications.

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Well, yes, I wasn't going to do anything without getting professional advice. However I just wanted to get a feeling for what some of these tax and legal implications might be.

Do you need a solicitor even if the property is not mortgaged

My advice is yes.


or can you do this by just contacting the Land Registry/Registry of Deeds?
They won't do it for you - the Registry of Deeds specifically will not advise . The Land Registry would show you the format and direct you to the rules but their function is confined to registering what you give them and not advising on the consequences - e.g. managing to assign a leasehold only interest in a property rather than the intended freehold

What might be a ballpark solicitor's fee for processing such a change in the mortgage and no mortgage cases if different?

Well - I' ve decided that I will not work for the peanut type rates oft quoted on the Board so I'm not reliable in terms of the market but I would charge not less than 500 for a no lender and up to a 1000 plus VAT where a lender is involved. You'll end up also almost invariably doing wills and advising on other bits and pieces.

mf

Thanks for the info mf1.