Deeds and transfering from a joint to a single remortgage

[tiles]

Myself and brother have a joint mortgage. The deeds are in both of our names. The current value of the property is about £200,000 and we have a mortgage of about £150,000. Would it be possible to Remortgage the property in my name only, but leave my brother on the deeds, thus avoiding any Stamp Duties payments. If not approx how much Stamp Duty will I need to pay to remove my brother from the Deeds. Note my brother will not be recieving any equity release payments.

[James Smith]

“Tiles”

Generally speaking if your mortgage is in joint names, the property will be held in joint names so this sort of arrangement might not be possible. Worth a chat to an IFA if this is possible.

More widely stamp duty probably isn’t the biggest of your worries here, given you would only be paying £750 on the transfer. You really should be looking at the CGT impact of these changes.

Why do you need to change the ownership? Is it because someone has moved out of the property? You should generally speaking ensure the people who live in the house have their name on the deeds or there could be a charge to CGT. If your brother is removed this will trigger a charge to CGT even if no money changes hands so you need to be very careful what you are doing here. Unless he lives in the property there may not be exemptions available for this charge.

I suggest you take some proper advice regarding this to look at all the aspects of the transaction and not just narrowly at the stamp duty.

Regards,

James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01284 764436