Buying Out Joint Owner of a Property

[DameCelia]

Hi, I wonder if you have any advice for me. This is not really a problem, although I would welcome any comment or guidance.

My husband jointly owns a property with his ex-wife in Limassol. They have owned this property since 2006 and since divorcing have both remarried. She resides in Cyprus. He and I are in the UK and wish to buy her share so the property will be in my and his joint names. She is in agreement and a price has been agreed. There are no title deeds and the property is not mortgaged. We will not require a mortgage.

Should I (or both he & I) take legal advice as well as the seller? Will I be required to? Should I use a UK or Cyprus based solicitor? My husband is confident that there are no "nasties" with the property having exercised all due diligence etc when he bought it. However it is still a property purchase as far as I am concerned.

Regards and thanks

Dame Celia

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Dame Celia and welcome to the forum.

Firstly, as there are no Title Deeds, your husband an his ex-wife do not own the property. They have a claim on the property by virtue of a contract of sale that (hopefully) was deposited at the Land Registry in Limassol when they purchased the property.

The easiest way to proceed is for your husband's ex to sell the property to you using an 'assignment' agreement. Using this type of agreement your husband's ex's rights and obligations contained in the original contract of sale are transferred to you - and when the Title Deeds become available you will be registered as the owner of your husband's ex's share.

You will need a Cyprus-based lawyer to draw up the assignment contract and both you and your husband's ex's will have to sign (or appoint a lawyer to act on your behalf/behalves under a Power of Attorney). I think your husband, as a 50% shareholder in the property, will have to give his consent for the sale to proceed.

The British High Commissioner publishes a list of lawyers and Louise Zambartas, who used to answer legal questions on this forum is one of them. You can find the complete list at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... mplate.pdf

As well as the legal fees involved in drawing up the assignment agreement, there will be a charge for registering the agreement at the Land Registry. You can find the charges at http://cdn.cyprus-property-buyers.com/w ... _12_13.pdf (see page 5 - item 'D').

Regards,

[DameCelia]

Hi Nigel

Thanks for your reply, it is very helpful. I find it hard to get my head around this title deed issue. However, I'll take advice accordingly and refer back to you if necessary.

Your site and forum are excellent!

Regards

Dame Celia

PS I'm not really a Dame!

[Nigel Howarth]

You're welcome Dame Celia (-Dame)

And thank you for your comments, much appreciated.

Regards,

[emgee]

Dame Celia

We used to have a (Lord) on this forum once! But that's another story.

Alan

[DameCelia]

Hello Nigel, it's been a long time but we are just about to conclude this transaction including the title deeds (yay!). It is going to be our second home while we have commitments in the UK. Should all be concluded by 30 Sept.

I wonder if you would help a little bit further, please.

The house is occupied by my husband's former wife and her husband. We have informally agreed that they need not move out straight away after completion, but stay on until they have secured their new accommodation. We don't wish to charge rent and have agreed a date for them to move out early next year. None of this is written down except for emails.

Although relationships are good, I wonder if we should have some sort of agreement just in case so to speak. My question is therefore would a tenancy agreement be appropriate (with zero or peppercorn rent/deposit) or some other document like a deed of trust?

Whichever we use it needs to be simple and cheap and not complicate our lives with new legal responsibilities or taxes. It is really only in the event of some unforeseen complication.

Thanks in advance for any advice you may give

Dame Celia Molestrangler

[Nigel Howarth]

Hello Fiona

I'm pleased to hear that you're close to completion and I hope all goes well.

Although the relationship with your husband's former wife and her husband, there is a possibility that you could be taken advantage of if you didn't have some form of formal agreement with them. It is very difficult to get a tenant to move out if they refuse to go and it took a friend with a property in Limassol more than 2 years to get his property vacated plus the costs of taking legal action against his tenants.

I'm not saying that this will happen with your husband's former wife and her husband, but you need to have a formal agreement that could be used if they renege on the deal.

There needs to be a tenancy agreement with a date by which they vacate the property at the very least.

Regards,

[DameCelia]

Morning Nigel

Thanks for your advice.

Got to go, old Gruntfuttock is calling......

TTFN

[Nigel Howarth]

Please pass on my best regards to J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock.

Rgds,