Transfer of Equity Guide

What is a Transfer of Equity?

This is a transfer of an obligation and/or property from one individual to another and normally arises when a borrower is either released from a mortgage or added to the mortgage.

Many home owners wish to change their ownership status (transfer equity) for a number of different reasons, and these can include:

Marriage, Divorce or Separation – after a marriage or divorce, transferring property into joint names or back to a sole name.

Tax Planning – depending on the value of your property you may be advised by a tax planner or accountant to transfer shares of the property into the name of another family member

Shares in the Property – When joint persons buy a property they may not wish to own it on a equal basis.  Normally a trust deed is registered at the land registry explaining the shares each persons owns.  If this is to change, say and one persons buys out or increases their share in the property a Transfer of Equity would be required along with alterations to the trust deed

Legal advice should always be sought if you require a Transfer of Equity and below are the steps involved when transferring equity on your property.

Please ensure that you have contacted your mortgagees with regard to obtaining consent to the transfer.  Legally we cannot proceed until we have received this.

Upon receiving your instructions we will contact your mortgagee to obtain your title deeds and also contact the other party involved or their Solicitors (if any).

Upon receipt of the consent from the mortgagees we will then draw up the transfer deed and forward the same to the other party or their Solicitors for approval. Once this document has been approved it will then be forwarded to the necessary parties for signature and the mortgagees for sealing.

When all parties have signed and the mortgagees have sealed the transfer deed a completion date is then arranged which is normally 10 days after receipt of the transfer deed from the mortgagees.

Once a completion date has been arranged a completion statement will be prepared and forwarded to you showing the balance either due to you or required from you on completion.

On the completion date, all parties are informed in writing that completion has taken place and the title deeds are then forwarded to the Land Registry for updating.