Changing legal ownership of your home
There are any number of reasons why you might wish to change who has legal ownership of your home, without putting it on the market and selling up. Perhaps your partner is moving in and you’d like to own the property together, or you want to give your adult children some security through giving them a stake in your property. Whatever the reason, you’ll need to complete what’s known as a transfer of equity process.
This is known as a transfer of equity – when the legal ownership of the property changes but at least one of the original owners remains on the title – and there are several scenarios in which you might want to undertake this, including:
• Getting married or re-married and wishing to add a new partner’s name to the deeds.
• Relationship breakdown – where a couple, on separation or divorce, transfer the property from joint names to one party’s sole name or where one buys out the share of the other.
• Changing the percentage share of a property as part of family arrangements or where the property is a gift.
• When someone has died.
Largest cost involved is usually transfer of equity Stamp Duty Land Tax. Where a party is taking on equity or a mortgage worth more than £125,000 in total, then Stamp Duty Land Tax may need to be paid on it. The precise amount owed is calculated using bands. If a party is leaving the property’s title due to divorce, then no Stamp Duty Land Tax will be owed.