Transfer of Equity
A Transfer of Equity occurs when you are looking to Transfer your legal ownership in a property in your name into someone else’s name or even if you want to remain the legal owner but want to add a new person to the Title, with whom you want to own the property. There are a number of situations which may require a Transfer of Equity, some examples of the types of Transfer of Equity matter we deal with are (not an exhaustive list); a property is Transferred for love and affection within a family for no money, a divorce situation pursuant to a court order or you wish to Transfer out your legal ownership for some value or be released from a mortgage.
What are the steps in a transfer of equity?
The steps which we will take to deal with a Transfer of Equity will depend on the on the type of Transfer of Equity and which party we act for i.e if we act for the Transferor ( The Party who owns the property but they are Transferring out this ownership) or if we act for the Transferee (the Party to who the legal ownership is being Transferred to). We cannot act for both the Transferor or Transferee each party will need to be separately represented.
Steps taken when acting for Transferor
If the property is not encumbered we would obtain copies of the Title for the property from the Land Registry and will forward them to the Transferee’s lawyer to review and draft a Transfer Deed.
If the property in question is mortgaged, you will need to apply through your lender for a ‘transfer of equity’ application. Once this is approved, then Lawyers can be instructed to act
Once the Transfer Deed is in an approved form we would arrange for you to sign the same. We would then arrange to complete the Transfer of Equity and will send the Transfer Deed to the Transferee’s solicitors to deal with registration of the Transfer at the Land Registry. We would ask the Transferee’s Lawyer to send us an updated copy of the register once their application is completed at the Land Registry. A copy of the updated register will be sent for your records.
Please note this is a brief overview. The process can be complicated and there may be enquiries or further documents you may need to sign on the request of the Transferee’s Lawyer. Also the type of Transfer of Equity will also change the steps we take
Steps taken for Transferee
When we act for a Transferee we will be involved in the drafting the Transfer Deed for the Transferor’s lawyer to approve and will also consider any Insolvency issues. We may also raise any further enquiries with the Transferor’s Lawyer.
Stamp Duty
Please note that Stamp duty can sometimes be payable when completing a transfer of equity – our team of lawyers will assess your circumstances and can advise you further on this.
Once our enquiries are fully dealt with and the Transfer is in an approved form. The Transferor will sign this with their lawyer and we will call you to our office to sign a counterpart to the Transfer Deed. We will then arrange a completion a date.
On Completion
We will arrange to complete with the Transferor’s Lawyer on the day of completion.
On receipt of the Transfer Deed from the Transferor’s Lawyer, our lawyers will apply to the Land Registry Office to register the property for the new ownership to be updated. Once our application is completed with the Land Registry, you will be sent an updated copy of the register and a copy will be sent to the Transferor’s Lawyer for their records.
A fee will be charged by the Land Registry Office for a transfer of equity application to be completed by them, the amount depends on how much the property is worth or the amount paid to complete the Transfer.
If you would like more information, please contact us on 0121 384 4652 and one of our dedicated team of lawyers will be happy to advise you further.
