Changing name on house deeds after death of husband
Discussion
A friends parents have lived in the same house for 50 years, the mortgage paid off long ago. The house deeds kept at what is now Santander. Recently the husband died, so a short time later the widow asked for the deeds to be transferred to her, as the deeds had been in the husbands name ever since they bought the house.
She was surprised to be told by Santander that she needed to instruct a solicitor to do this on her behalf. So having been to see one, they were shocked when the estimated bill will be around £1500 (5 to 8 hours billed time plus various fees and VAT).
They don't have much money, and so I was wondering if this is a fair price for just changing the name on the deeds, or indeed if its really necessary. What happens if they do nothing, or leave it for a year or two when their finances are in better shape?
She was surprised to be told by Santander that she needed to instruct a solicitor to do this on her behalf. So having been to see one, they were shocked when the estimated bill will be around £1500 (5 to 8 hours billed time plus various fees and VAT).
They don't have much money, and so I was wondering if this is a fair price for just changing the name on the deeds, or indeed if its really necessary. What happens if they do nothing, or leave it for a year or two when their finances are in better shape?
Merch131 said:
A friends parents have lived in the same house for 50 years, the mortgage paid off long ago. The house deeds kept at what is now Santander. Recently the husband died, so a short time later the widow asked for the deeds to be transferred to her, as the deeds had been in the husbands name ever since they bought the house.
She was surprised to be told by Santander that she needed to instruct a solicitor to do this on her behalf. So having been to see one, they were shocked when the estimated bill will be around £1500 (5 to 8 hours billed time plus various fees and VAT).
They don't have much money, and so I was wondering if this is a fair price for just changing the name on the deeds, or indeed if its really necessary. What happens if they do nothing, or leave it for a year or two when their finances are in better shape?
You might want to get a professional to confirm this but I am pretty sure you don't need to change the deeds, it can stay like that until she dies and that house gets sold.She was surprised to be told by Santander that she needed to instruct a solicitor to do this on her behalf. So having been to see one, they were shocked when the estimated bill will be around £1500 (5 to 8 hours billed time plus various fees and VAT).
They don't have much money, and so I was wondering if this is a fair price for just changing the name on the deeds, or indeed if its really necessary. What happens if they do nothing, or leave it for a year or two when their finances are in better shape?
At least that is what happened in my Aunt/Uncles case, I was executor for my Aunt (uncle died 10 years previously) and I had no problem selling the house with both their names on the deeds.
Merch131 said:
A friends parents have lived in the same house for 50 years, the mortgage paid off long ago. The house deeds kept at what is now Santander. Recently the husband died, so a short time later the widow asked for the deeds to be transferred to her, as the deeds had been in the husbands name ever since they bought the house.
She was surprised to be told by Santander that she needed to instruct a solicitor to do this on her behalf. So having been to see one, they were shocked when the estimated bill will be around £1500 (5 to 8 hours billed time plus various fees and VAT).
"Deeds" have long since been replaced by registration at the Land Registry.She was surprised to be told by Santander that she needed to instruct a solicitor to do this on her behalf. So having been to see one, they were shocked when the estimated bill will be around £1500 (5 to 8 hours billed time plus various fees and VAT).
Any change triggers compulsory registration - so that solicitor's time is simply bringing the ownership of the property up to the way it's been done for the last few decades. It also gives her much better protection.
Sheets Tabuer said:
My dad did this last week as his wife died last month.
Download form djp from the land registry website and post it off.
Any problems and give them a call they were super helpful and it all cost the price of a stamp.
Assuming the property's already registered (which it almost certainly won't be) in joint names (which the OP's told us it isn't)...Download form djp from the land registry website and post it off.
Any problems and give them a call they were super helpful and it all cost the price of a stamp.
I don't know if there was a will, but I don't think so, other than the house they didn't have much in the way of assets. I assume everything went to the surviving spouse automatically?
The issue is that the deeds are in the now deceased husbands name only, which was common it seems back in the 60's when the house was bought. Its not something they ever considered while the husband was living.
So to be clear, the information is that if they do nothing, there is no penalty as such, and the deeds will be transferred sometime in the future when the widow dies and the house is sold, or inherited by their son?
The issue is that the deeds are in the now deceased husbands name only, which was common it seems back in the 60's when the house was bought. Its not something they ever considered while the husband was living.
So to be clear, the information is that if they do nothing, there is no penalty as such, and the deeds will be transferred sometime in the future when the widow dies and the house is sold, or inherited by their son?
Merch131 said:
I don't know if there was a will, but I don't think so, other than the house they didn't have much in the way of assets. I assume everything went to the surviving spouse automatically?
The issue is that the deeds are in the now deceased husbands name only, which was common it seems back in the 60's when the house was bought. Its not something they ever considered while the husband was living.
So to be clear, the information is that if they do nothing, there is no penalty as such, and the deeds will be transferred sometime in the future when the widow dies and the house is sold, or inherited by their son?
I am guessing that it is not clear if probate has been done either? I don't really know how that affects things but I think I would getting proper advice as it might save hassle later.The issue is that the deeds are in the now deceased husbands name only, which was common it seems back in the 60's when the house was bought. Its not something they ever considered while the husband was living.
So to be clear, the information is that if they do nothing, there is no penalty as such, and the deeds will be transferred sometime in the future when the widow dies and the house is sold, or inherited by their son?
btw. when I did probate for my aunt a local solicitor gave me a 30 minute consultation free. Lots of useful info which lead me to realise that I didn't actually need to pay her to do it. In the end I did use that firm for the house sale but even that was around £800. So £1500 estimate and no proper advice on what is and is not necessary would make me go to another solicitor!
Merch131 said:
I don't know if there was a will, but I don't think so, other than the house they didn't have much in the way of assets. I assume everything went to the surviving spouse automatically?
The issue is that the deeds are in the now deceased husbands name only, which was common it seems back in the 60's when the house was bought. Its not something they ever considered while the husband was living.
So to be clear, the information is that if they do nothing, there is no penalty as such, and the deeds will be transferred sometime in the future when the widow dies and the house is sold, or inherited by their son?
If there is no Will intestacy rules apply and she will not get everything if the husbands estate is more than £250,000.The issue is that the deeds are in the now deceased husbands name only, which was common it seems back in the 60's when the house was bought. Its not something they ever considered while the husband was living.
So to be clear, the information is that if they do nothing, there is no penalty as such, and the deeds will be transferred sometime in the future when the widow dies and the house is sold, or inherited by their son?
In order to sort out the estate someone needs to apply for Letters of Administration.
If they've lived in the house for that long, you may find it's isn't actually registered with LR, and that may be the reason for the high cost.
When my mum died, we couldn't sell the house immediately, because it wasn't registered with LR. It didn't take long, but inevitably, there was a cost attached.
When my mum died, we couldn't sell the house immediately, because it wasn't registered with LR. It didn't take long, but inevitably, there was a cost attached.
PurpleMoonlight said:
If there is no Will intestacy rules apply and she will not get everything if the husbands estate is more than £250,000.
In order to sort out the estate someone needs to apply for Letters of Administration.
The house is worth no more than £200K, other than that I don't think there's more than a few thousand to be considered, so the £250,000 limit isn't an issue.In order to sort out the estate someone needs to apply for Letters of Administration.
My wife is a wills & probate lawyer, so she always says best to shop around as with any service.
The property is not registered with LR by the sounds of it so it can't be transferred per se without being registered first, thus some legal costs there. The deeds will be required to help establish the registration of the property which is not always straight forward. This can often be complex as it is usually old houses which may have past boundary disputes or shared access or any old tied / ground rents long forgotten / utility access rights etc.
Newly registering one old property often involves altering details of the neighbouring properties registrations too which involves more fees.
Will or no Will she needs a grant of probate and other paperwork, usually via a lawyer, to obtain legal right to the deceased's assets / savings etc not in joint names. Also his income tax bills need to be settled as you carry on accruing income tax after you have died until probate is issued, so part year tax returns need completing and settling. This should all be done by the person(s) executing the estate. Preferably a lawyer.
There are no end of problems cause by people doing nothing, then these hidden problems pile up, usually at great cost to children when they inherit.
And yes, people brag you can do it yourself with a £2.99 kit from Smiths, but 99% of lay people make a complete balls up of it and again nobody know until it all comes up in the future with even bigger bills!
The property is not registered with LR by the sounds of it so it can't be transferred per se without being registered first, thus some legal costs there. The deeds will be required to help establish the registration of the property which is not always straight forward. This can often be complex as it is usually old houses which may have past boundary disputes or shared access or any old tied / ground rents long forgotten / utility access rights etc.
Newly registering one old property often involves altering details of the neighbouring properties registrations too which involves more fees.
Will or no Will she needs a grant of probate and other paperwork, usually via a lawyer, to obtain legal right to the deceased's assets / savings etc not in joint names. Also his income tax bills need to be settled as you carry on accruing income tax after you have died until probate is issued, so part year tax returns need completing and settling. This should all be done by the person(s) executing the estate. Preferably a lawyer.
There are no end of problems cause by people doing nothing, then these hidden problems pile up, usually at great cost to children when they inherit.
And yes, people brag you can do it yourself with a £2.99 kit from Smiths, but 99% of lay people make a complete balls up of it and again nobody know until it all comes up in the future with even bigger bills!
Edited by mikeN54 on Thursday 25th May 14:24
Merch131 said:
Back before everything was electronic, the deeds used to be kept at a bank or building society for a token fee for safe keeping, or at least that's what I was told used to be common practice.
This.Abbey National (who Santander took over) had a "Deedsafe" scheme - you just left 50p outstanding when paying off the mortgage and they archived the deeds. You could have them any time for the 50p plus an admin charge (£25 ??)
However Santander waived both when we asked for our deeds out of curiosity.
As mentioned, if the title is registered, the deeds are redundant, and just of academic interest
I've been in the position of executor about seven times now. Other than for one estate I've always administered everything myself using text book stuff etc, and found it challenging and rewarding as an exercise. The keys to success are to know what you're doing, do everything in the right sequence, record everything, and do things promptly. In 6 of the 7 cases the transfer of the ownership of the house was clear and straightforward. The other occasion it was not so I used a local solicitor which made things easier, mostly, but of course at a price to the estate.
R.
R.
Thanks for the replies. The house was bought by the couple new in around 1961, I had a look at the Land Registry site and it is on there. Though I didn't pay the 3 or £9 or whatever it is to find out more. They want to update the deeds but paying£1500 now will be a struggle, therefore if it can safely be left till a later date (which it sounds like it can be), then that is their preferred outcome.
As an aside, when my Dad died the ownership of their house (also not on the digital LR) was transferred 50% to my Mum and the remaining 50% to me, my brother and my Mum in trust or something to that effect. I think it means that no one can make her sell the house to pay for care as my brother and I also own it.
Might be worth chatting with a solicitor about at the same time?
Might be worth chatting with a solicitor about at the same time?
Merch131 said:
I had a look at the Land Registry site and it is on there.
If you do the postcode search, the house name/number comes up - but does it show the "Information Available" button? Or just "No Information Available" text?https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/wps/portal/P...
If it's got the button, then it's registered, and it should be much simpler (and cheaper). The "deeds" are functionally irrelevant, simply historical interest.
My Mum is currently in a similar situation 
.
Probate is all sorted but the house was in Dad's name only and is not registered. Solicitor has quoted £300 for them and £200 for registration fees to get it registered and transferred.
I'd suggest shopping round, £1500 is someone maximising the opportunity to take the piss.
.Probate is all sorted but the house was in Dad's name only and is not registered. Solicitor has quoted £300 for them and £200 for registration fees to get it registered and transferred.
I'd suggest shopping round, £1500 is someone maximising the opportunity to take the piss.
Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff