Transfer of Equity Solicitors in Maidenhead

Below is what we will need, and what each item is actually for.

The documents we ask for, and what each is for

Photographic identity and proof of address, for everyone going on or coming off the title. Required under the Money Laundering Regulations. We cannot complete without it, and a gap here holds up every later stage rather than just its own.

The title number, or the address if you do not have it. Lets us obtain the official copy of the register and check what we are dealing with before quoting on the work.

Your current mortgage details, including the account number. Any change to who owns the property needs your lender's agreement, because the lender's security is affected.

The transfer deed, signed. For most transfers this is Land Registry form TR1. It moves the legal ownership and must be signed in the presence of a witness.

Evidence of any money changing hands. Whether one party is paying the other, and how much, determines the stamp duty position and whether a return is needed at all.

The lease, service charge statements and freeholder details, if leasehold. A leasehold transfer needs notice served on the freeholder or managing agent after completion, and may need their consent before it.

Any court order or agreement, if the transfer follows a separation. A consent order or separation agreement may dictate the terms, and we act consistently with it rather than around it.

Your title register, and the entry that can stop a transfer

We obtain the official copy of the register from HM Land Registry and read three parts of it.

The proprietorship register confirms who the current legal owners are. If the names do not match what you expect, because a previous transfer was never registered or someone has died, that is resolved first.

This is also where a restriction may appear. Some titles, particularly on developments with an estate management or freeholder arrangement, carry a restriction preventing any transfer being registered without a certificate confirming a specified requirement has been met. Where one exists, HM Land Registry will reject the application without that certificate, and the certificate comes from a third party who charges for it and takes their own time. We check for this the day we pull the register, which is why we ask for the title number first.

The charges register shows what the property is burdened by. A mortgage appears here, as do covenants.

The property register shows what the property benefits from and confirms whether the title is registered at all. Where a title is unregistered, we work from deeds rather than a register and first registration is required, which is additional work.

Your lender's consent

If there is a mortgage, the lender has to consent to the transfer. Without consent the transfer either cannot be registered or does not achieve what the parties intended, which is why we approach the lender early rather than late.

Where someone is coming off the title, the lender will reassess whether the remaining borrower can support the loan alone. That is an affordability decision and it is the lender's to make, not ours. It is worth asking your lender that question before instructing anyone.

Where someone is being added, the lender may require them to be added to the mortgage as well, which brings a full application.

The TR1 and the stamp duty position

The TR1 transfers the legal estate. It is signed by the transferors and, where there is a mortgage or a declaration of trust, by the transferees too.

Stamp duty depends on the consideration, meaning what is actually given in exchange. A transfer for no consideration between spouses commonly falls outside SDLT. A transfer where one party takes on a share of the outstanding mortgage debt can bring the transaction into charge, because assuming debt counts as consideration. Where the share being acquired is in a second property for that person, the additional property rates may apply.

This is the part people most often get wrong on their own, and the figures move at Budgets. We will tell you the position on your specific transfer before anything is signed.

The order to send them in

1. Title number or address, so we can pull the register, check for a restriction, and quote accurately
2. Identity and address documents for everyone, so the file can proceed at all
3. Mortgage account details, so we can approach the lender early
4. Lease and service charge documents, if leasehold, because the managing agent is slowest
5. Any court order or separation agreement
6. Evidence of consideration, once the terms are settled
7. The signed TR1, last, once the lender has consented and any certificate is in hand

Steps one, three and four wait on other people. They come before the paperwork you can produce yourself.

Our fee basis for transfers of equity is published on the conveyancing fees page. For a purchase or sale, see our conveyancing service in Maidenhead.

Speak to us today

Fixed Fee conveyancing, a named solicitor, 20+ Years Experience. SRA regulated and CQS Accredited.