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If one spouse/civil partner owns rented properties solely in their own name but is a higher or additional rate taxpayer and the other spouse/civil partner is not, it would be beneficial for at least some of the rental profit to be taxed on the spouse/civil partner.

To alter the income tax percentage charged, ownership of part of the property must be transferred into the other spouse/civil partner’s name.

However, should the owning spouse/civil partner not wish to transfer any material percentage ownership but still wish to reduce their tax bill, a nominal amount of, say, 1% could be transferred.
In this instance the HMRC Form 17 ‘Declaration of beneficial interest in joint property and income’ must not be signed because not signing will ensure that the underlying property ownership is (say) 99:1 but the income split is 50:50.

Example:
Andrew and Anne are married. Andrew owns a property yielding £8,000 rental income annually. Andrew is a 45% additional rate taxpayer and Anne is a non-taxpayer.
Andrew transfers 1% of the property ownership to Anne, retaining 99%. Unless a Form 17 is validly submitted, each is subsequently taxed on 50% of the income. As Anne is a non-taxpayer, this will produce a tax saving of £1,800.