name change on title deeds

[robnsharm]

Good morning I am new to this forum and am hopeful you can help.
I own a properrty in joint names with my ex husband...I have since remarried.

We have been told that our deeds are available..by this I am presuming that they are still in the developers names,ready to be purchsed and put into the names of my ex and I as those are on our contract of sale.My ex husband and I want to change the names into my new husbands.How do we do this process...We obviously do not want to buy them in whilst they have the original names and then transfer again as this will incur 2 sets of fees.

Please can you help advise the best way to do this..the developer is being very unhelpful and has basically said it is not his problem.

Many thanks in anticipation
Sharman

[Pantheman]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

One way to do this is,

Your Ex will do an assignment contract between himself (for his share) and your new. However these will be costs to this, such as the contract registration charge at the land registry. Currently 0.5% of the purchase price you originally paid. Of course and legal fees as well. This means you and your new will now be the new owners. And so the title deeds can be transferred to your names after paying the necessary transfer fees.

Since you are divorced (I assume so at this point) you Ex cannot now just gift you his share and so, when it gets into his name, he can 'sell', although no money need change hands to your new, but transfer fees will have been paid twice, once into his name and once into the name of your new.

What you need to establish is which is the cheaper route for you to take. I suspect the first would be better and probably safer since the needs never get into his (your Ex) at all.

Hope that helps

[robnsharm]

Thank you for your reply.

So maybe another option would be simply removing my ex name from the deeds..obviously before we buy them,thus making me the sole owner,then at a later date I gift to my new husband.

Are you able to clarify this situation for me and whether we can do this.

Thanks Sharman

[Nigel Howarth]

another option would be simply removing my ex name from the deeds.

You cannot do that.

Your ex can either assign his half of the contract to your new husband as Pan has advised - or his property transfer fees will have to be paid twice - once from the developer to your ex and second from your ex to your new hubbie.

Regards,

[robnsharm]

Thank you both for the replies...appreciated
Sharman

[robnsharm]

We having been looking at all options given our situation..and wondered if another route would be for my ex husband to gift our son his half of the property.Can this be done before deeds are issued..so that when we get them it will be my sons name and my name on them..or do we have to buy them first then make the gift.

If its possible to do this what is the process.

Many thanks again

[Pantheman]

We having been looking at all options given our situation..and wondered if another route would be for my ex husband to gift our son his half of the property.Can this be done before deeds are issued..so that when we get them it will be my sons name and my name on them..or do we have to buy them first then make the gift.

If its possible to do this what is the process.

Many thanks again

Hello again.

You have to understand how the system works. As you do not have title deeds you cannot gift anything to anyone.

You would still need to do an assignment contract between your ex and your son so that your son's name is next in line to get the deeds when ready. This is because the land registry will only transfer deeds to the last named persons in the contract held by them.

Then you will both (you and your son) will pay once. However, there is still the case of paying the assignment contract registration charge as detailed above.

Once the title deeds are in your sons name, he can gift them to you no charge except a very small amount 0.4% of the 1980 value.

Hope that helps

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Sharman

If your ex had an assignment contract drawn up in favour of your son, the Land Registry fees for accepting the contract will be €20 as the assignment is being made by a parent to a child.

The child has to be over 18 I believe.

When the deeds are transferred, both you and your son will have to pay the Transfer Fees. Then, as Pan says, your son can gift his share in the property to you - the Land Registry charge is 0.4% of the property's 1980 value.

The you can gift a half share in the property to your new hubby, which will cost you 0.4% of the property's 1980 value.

(You do not 'buy' the deeds. Property Transfer Fees are a tax - the local equivalent of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) that you pay in the UK).

Regards,

[robnsharm]

Thanks again for the help and advice.
We decided to make a trip to the land registry and get costings etc for the above.It transpires that as you say the deeds can only be tranfered by the developers to the names of the people on the contract of sale..once the contract has been registered.
However even though we have our contract ,the developer, still after 10 years has not registered it.Land regisistry were extremely helpful and have said as they have not got a registered contract we should go to the developer and ask then to change the contract into our new names and then register it with them.They said apparently developers often do not register properties until people want to have the transfer done and that it is nothing to be worried about.

I am hopeful now that due to our developers not registering the property..we will now be able to change the names on the original contract.My developer thinks this will also be possible

What are your opinions on this...once again many thanks for your help,


sharman

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi sharman

Firstly, it was not your developer's responsibility to lodge your contract of sale at the Land Registry - it was yours.

The financial problem you will have for not lodging your contract 10 years ago is that you will be charged IPT based on the market value of the property at the the date the contract was lodged with the Land Registry - and this will be more than its market value when you purchased it 10 years ago.

However, you can have a new contract drawn up naming yourself and and your new husband and deposit it at the Land Registry.

I suggest that you check at the Land Registry to see if any charges have been lodged against the title since you purchased originally as these have to be settled before the property can be transferred to you & hubby. For a guide on how to do this plus the form, see http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... /id=004888

I hope that you use a lawyer this time.

Regards,

[Pantheman]

They said apparently developers often do not register properties until people want to have the transfer done and that it is nothing to be worried about.

This is complete nonsense coming from the Land registry who are not in a position to make such statements.

It is NOT NORMAL and can be dangerous not to register the contract when you buy it. For as long as it is not registered, it is not yours but the developers. You have paid for a product you do not legally own. He could easily have sold it onto another person then what?? Developers may not register (although it is not their job to do so) contracts to hide from the tax authorities any sales and try to save taxes!

On top of this, if he has taken out any further mortgages or has had any memo's attached to the land title, you cannot get a clean contract and thereby cannot sell easily and could also be at risk to repossession. It could all be safe and dandy, but these are the pit falls of not registering, in addition you have no protection under the Specific Performance law in case the developer refuses to transfer the title.

You are in a very risky situation and where you think you might save a few pennies by not paying the necessary Transfer fees, could end up with no house. If you didn't use a lawyer for the purchase, then you have no one but yourself to blame if things turn sour.

Your best bet, is to get an N50 search done to see the legal status of the land, but wait, you are not the legal owner so you can't even do this. Only the developer can now do it. Better if you ask him to get a search done and if it is clean then register a new contract, if it is not then you have other worries. Further, if you are putting it in your son's name perhaps the tax authorities might ask where he got the money from!!!

I'm sorry to sound so harsh, but everything I have said is fact and you need to stay on top of this to secure you initial investment.

Good luck all the same. Better to act immediately do not let this linger on.

[robnsharm]

Thank you all for your help..it has been a stressful week .We have now been to see the developer and also Land resistry again.The developer registered all our neighbours contract of sales 10 years ago when we exchanged,however ours somehow slipped through the net.The contract was not resistered.
The developer has shown me the deeds and I was able after protest to see someone at the developers who actually was very nice and went through everything with a fine tooth comb.

A new contract is now going to be sorted and upon this I will ensure that its is registered and shall then start the process of the transfer.

I have been very persistent and thankfully it has paid off,however I dread to think how many other people may be in this position and do not even realize it.

Once again many thanks to you all.
Sharman