Deeds of a house

[Button]

I live with my elderly mother and I have paid all of the mortgage off. the deeds are in my mothers name and she wants the deeds put into my name before she passes on. This is to stop any of the family staking a claim on the house. None of the family have contributed to the upkeep only me. How do we go about changing the deeds over Many thanks Ruby

[Philtaz]

Provided you are now in possession of the deeds(having paid the mortgage) then a short trip to a local property solicitor should do the trick, there'll be plenty to choose from in the Yellow Pages etc.

[Sylday]

Of course, another way of your mother achieving her aim of passing the house to you would be for her to make a Will. In any case, she should do this, if she wants to ensure that any of her other possessions goes to you, or other friends or relatives.

[Kev_UK]

Hi Ruby, Philtaz is correct. The deeds to the house may be at the bank or building society in safe keeping if your mother hasn't got them. If you have other people in the house (e.g children) then you have to declare that you will continue to have them live there when you become the legal owner (name on the deeds) as they have rights. Basicaly it is straightforward and I believe it shouldn't cost more than �200. I believe the term that solicitors use to deal with property is known as conveyance (or conveyancing). You must act fast though, as you say your mother is elderly and if anything was to happen to her you wouldn't want additional stress with feuding family.

[Maud]

If you would like to go to the Money section of Answerbank and look under the heading "Property" which is now in the next 40-60 questions section there you will find a discussion which I hope will be of interest. Basically it is quite a simple job to change names which you can do yourself requiring the filling in of only 3 simple forms, but whether you are best served by changing to you as sole proprietor or whether you would be better off holding the property in joint tenancy with your mother is discussed under "Property". If then you wish me to answer specific questions, may I ask that you post them under "Property" rather than here.

[Button]

Thankyou everyone for your answers on transferring the deeds of the house from my mother to me. My mother has made a will and left everything to me, so I guess I could leave it as it is, but would it be advisable to change it into my name or leave it as it is. Deeds and her will are lodged in my bank. Thanks Button

[dodgyshirt]

Wills can always be contested.Play safe and have the deeds transferred into your name. For the sake of a few hundred pounds it could save you a lot of hassle.

[Maud]

You might be best advised to hold the property in joint tenancy with your mother. This enables the property to transfer to the survivor without the need for wills, probate etc and without IHT. If you leave it as it is you may receive a bill for IHT the cash for which has to be found before probate is granted. If you change to you as sole proprietor the 7 year rule applies which may result in the same thing. All of this is discussed under the reference given in my earlier posting.