Co-ownership of House

DulchieLaois

Hi All

I currently co own a house with my brother, however he does not live there but I do with my wife.

We have agreed that he wants to get his name of the deeds of the house with no financial compensation.

I then want to put my wife name onto the house deeds.

Does anyone have experience with this set up before with banks and solicitore and if so, please advise what I can expect.

Secondly, was there any tax implications or things that I may be overlooking that you can advise to me

Thank you.

xper

You really need to sit down and go through this with a solicitor. Your brother could effectively be gifting you half the market value of the house which might leave you with a capital gains tax and/or stamp duty liability. The threshold for tax liability for gifts between siblings is quite low, just €30,000. That said, there are many exemptions such as

A gift or inheritance of a dwelling house where the beneficiary has been living in the house for 3 years immediately prior to the gift or inheritance, and remains in the house for a further 6 years is exempt from CAT. The beneficiary cannot have any interest in any other residential premises. With effect from 20 February 2007, the exemption will not apply in the case of a gift, if the disponer lived in the house during the 3-year period prior to the gift, subject to certain exceptions.

So if you've been in the house for the last three years, your brother hasn't and you can commit to living there for at least another six years and do not own any other properties, that may be your get out.

But talk to a solicitor.

Luckysasha

When you say co-ownership I presume you mean you and your brother have a joint mortgage on the property ?

DulchieLaois

Yes Luckysasha, We have a joint mortgage, however both my wife and I live in the property.

Thanks Xper, that is good knowledge to have, thank you for sharing it.

If anyone else have any more helpful information, it will be a help to me

Thank you

P. Breathnach

The first step you need to take is have a conversation with your mortgage lender. It is more difficult to get somebody removed from a mortgage than it is to transfer your brother's interest to your spouse.

If they say no, then your project might have to be put on ice for a while.

DulchieLaois

All mortgage providers have told me that my wife and I have to apply for mortgage as normal and once we get approval, then its up to solicitors to sort out the donkey work effectively

Luckysasha

I went through something similar to get an ex partner off a joint mortgage. Slight difference was I wanted the mortgage / house in my name only. Process was as follows
Sit down with bank and explain what you want to do
They will basically do a new mortgage application for you and your partner which involves all the relevant paperwork and in itself can be drawn out over a number of weeks ( salary certs bank statements etc etc )
You will have to get the house valued by an independent auctioneer and submit that to the bank
The bank will then submit your application based on the value of the house.
If your successful with your application your solicitor has to send a letter of consent to the solicitor of the guy you own the house with now basically to get his permission that it is ok to take his name off the mortgage
When your solicitor gets this letter back he can then approach the bank and start the drawdown process on the new mortgage there giving you
The life insurance policy you both have now to cover the mortgage now will have to be cancelled and a new one taken out in you and your partners name
That is basically what happens and believe me it takes time especially when solicitors get involved. It took me about 10 weeks start to finish and roughly 3 grand in fees