Transfering Ownership Of A House.

[sammmo]

My mother passed away last year. My sister wants to buy her house, she has the money and is able to pay without taking out a mortgage. so basically it will be transfering the house ownership from my mother to my sister. Probate has been granted to me and i have opened up an executors account at the bank. What would be a fair price for a solicitor to charge for this service?

[woofgang]

what service? You can register a change of ownership yourself at the Land registry. Are there other beneficiaries?

[Retrochic]

Its really easy to do yourself and will only cost around $40 to change the name on the deeds. taken fromthe land registry site:
''There is no requirement on the part of Land Registry that you use a solicitor or other legal adviser to complete an application and send it to us. However, please remember that although we can assist you in the completion of the clerical aspects of the form, we are not able to offer you legal advice.''
check out
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/whole-of-registered-title-assent-as1

[sammmo]

yes there are 3 other siblings. she will pay into the executors account the asking price for the house less her part of the inheritance.

[woofgang]

there you go then. I believe that stamp duty (if appropriate) is still payable, not sure if the estate will need to get a house seller's report. Can I suggest that you get written agreement to this from all parties involved?

[Peter Pedant]

use a licensed conveyancer - £300 - £500 is the answer
peanuts compared to the value of the house

presumably you have agreed the probate value as the transfer price

if however it is more than probate then the difference should be divided by two and if there are only two of you, you should declare your half of the difference as a capital gain in the 2014-5 tax year.

I am not sure if those saying do it yourself have ever done it themselves
I wouldnt dream of it - [ brainwashed, and the expensive consequences if things go wrong ]

and you need to think about stamp duty ( and then pay it )

[hc4361]

The House Seller's Report (HIP) has been scrapped so no need for that.

[Old_Geezer]

But I think you still need an EU Energy Performance Certificate. Give it time though. Can't stay in the EU forever.

[buildersmate]

I don't think the EU will ever reach the required standard to earn a Performance Certificate, OG.

[Retrochic]

Peter I have done it -transferred ownership of a house into the name of one of my daughters. The forms are easy to fill in and you can telephone the Registry for advice on filling the forms in. Its madness to pay someone £500 for a job that can be easily done. I've also split some land into two titles -this required the services of a professional surveyor who produced a map -this cost £400 the transfer which we did ourselves cost £40.

[buildersmate]

Agreed, Retro, it ain't rocket science. And I find it a pity that others advise not to do it just because they don't want or haven't tried. The LR has become a lot more user friendly over the last ten years.

You are going to need this TR1 form as it is the whole of the registered title: -
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/390836/TR1__web_friendly_PDF_.pdf
There are various accompanying notes to help that can be downloaded separately.
I think there is a requirement to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on the transaction, I'm afraid, in respect of the two-thirds assessed value sum being paid by your sister (the figure that will appear as the Consideration in Box 8 of the form). That is going to cost her, depending on the value of the property. There is a separate form for this. Not 100% sure on this point, others may wish to correct.

If you go to a conveyancer or solicitor, legally they will have to follow a minimum process of due diligence, else they could be later accused of not advising client properly. As a minimum this is going to mean an assessment of the title for defects, and probably a local search.

Your sister needs to understand that she is acquiring the property 'as seen', but if it has been in the family for a good number of years, the family know as much about it as it likely to be important.

Both solicitors and conveyancers assess how much they will charge based on the property transaction value, with conveyancers charging roughly two-thirds of what solicitors charge for the same thing. So none of us can answer your actual question (because we don't know). Phone a few for a quote - they do that over the phone.

[sammmo]

Thanks for all your answers. They have been very helpful. I have got probate with out using a solicitor. Found that to be easy so I will do this myself and report back if I get any problems..