Land Registry

[Graham-W]

My father-in law has recently died. The house was in joint names with my Mother in law. His will has passed his share of the house to her.
Is there any need to contact the land registry to change the ownership from joint owners to just Mother in law as owner or should she just leave it as it is?

[Buenchico]

It will complicate things when your m-i-l dies if the records aren't up to date. There's no charge for updating the records:
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-9

Chris

[Graham-W]

Thanks Chris. I've followed your link and it seems a form "DJP" "Application to Remove from the Register the name of a Deceased Joint Proprietor".
Looks like we can do this ourselves as the form is quite straightforward.
Thanks again.

[Barmaid]

^^^ only works if the land is registered. If it isn't registered, leave it til MIL passes away (cheaper).

[Peter Pedant]

we left it to when we came to sell.

My father bought in the sxties and when we came to sell in the nineties, both parents had died and the house was vested by will in his children. The licensed conveyancer took all this in his stride.

[KARL]

If the property is in Scotland then it might be worth ensuring a slice of any land involved (such as a garden or similar) has not been claimed by an adjacent landowner. The original law on land registration (last two or three decades, not to be confused with the Sasines) was so badly framed that there are numerous examples of "errors" where, for example, the sale of a property has led to a unilaterally changed and registered boundary position with the loss of a slice by a neighbour. Even council land has passed into private hands this way. The law has recently or is about to change but the replacement was drawn up by the same parties as drew up and operated the old law. The outcome is or will be that the "errors" basically become irreversible and thereby the mess conveniently vanishes - but those who lose part of their property lose it permanently.

The known examples mostly came to light by chance, there are likely to be many more where the losers simply don't know what has happened because they have not needed to consult the position in the register (as for example you might now have occasion to do due to events).