Deeds Transfer

[Ashi]

My father is wanting to transfer his deeds to myself and my brother - He already has the deeds - no mortgage to pay on the property anymore? How can I get this done without having to pay expensive solicitor fees? However saying that he also wants to have some indication as part of the ownership for a specific amount of funds to be transferred to a charity? How does this work and what would be the tax implications - because this would mean we would be receiving the property as a gift, and also giving half of the value to charity? Also once transfer of names have taken place does this then mean my father has nothing and no rights over the property then?

[MustafaTickl]

(1) Without a mortgage you can transfer the property without a solicitor. Speak to your local District Land Registry Office who will guide you through the process
(2) Telephone [phone] who will explain any Stamp Duty liability to you and arrange for a SDLT Certificate for the Land Registry
(3) Once the transfer is completed your father has no further rights and can be kicked out

[Ethel]

Your father may have rights in equity - a beneficial interest.

It is a hugely complicated area of law and you do need legal advice.

[MustafaTickl]

Rubbish

[jake-the-peg]

Remember too that this does not make you totally clear of inheritance tax.

You will still be liable to pay tax on a proportion of the value of the house should he die.

As I recall the proportion gets smaller down to nothing after 7 years I think it is

[Ashi]

Hiya thanks for your answers. So its easy enough to just transfer to both our names if required? And what about the money that he also wants to give to charity?

You see although he wont have rights over the property as part of his transfer to us he wants us to give a lump sum to a specific charity eitehr by rental from the property or if we chose to sell then from that? But of course this being after his death? So how will that work?

So we would in this case still be liable for inheritence tax even though he transfer this to us now?

[jake-the-peg]

If he signs the house over to you but continues to live in it then when he dies the inland revenue will decide that he has continued to "derive benefit from it" and charge full inheritance duty on it.

Sorry but the revenue saw through that dodge some years ago!

This is why Ethel says it's very complex go get professional advice.

Mustafa is right that simply transferring the equity is easy but that's not just what your question is about.

Most inheritance avoidance schemes these days revolve around setting up a trust and transferring the house to that, there are similar tax implications to that and the trust itself is now taxable on set up and annually although at different rates.

Generally minimising taxation through such schemes is a matter of timing

Here's an article on it:

http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/articledisplay.j sp?section=Tax&article_id=4965705