Add Girlfriend to Deeds - Tax Implications?

R

robdoh

Guest
Hi

I bought a house on my own 7 years ago. My girlfriend moved in 5 years ago and has contributed towards the bills and upkeep of the house since then.

We have no immediate plans to marry but my girlfriend would like the security of having her name on the deeds of the house. I am agreeable to this but am fairly certain that there are potential gift tax, stamp duty, solicitor fee and land registry fee issues to be resolved.

The current value of the house is 350K with a mortgage of 250K. Can anyone please indicate the type of costs we could expect to pay?

Thanks in advance.
 
Myself and my partner were in the same boat. Here was our solution. We remortgaged in joint names (which is advisable as you don't want her owning half the house but the mortgage being solely in your name). So, as I was a first time buyer I was exempt from stamp duty and he wasn't buying his half of the house so he didn't need to pay stamp duty. He was technically selling me half the house (our joint mortgage was larger than our initial mortgage as we paid off a lot of joint and individual debt - car loans etc) so i'm not sure about the implications if you remortgage for 250k as technically you are gifting her half the profit i.e. 50k.
Someone else may be better able to advise on that side of things.
 
If the second person is actually in reality contributing towards the purchase of the house (e.g. the mortgage repayments) then all the contractual gymnastics in the world with regard to the mortgage/property deeds will not circumvent the tax issues that arise. There are many existing threads on this issue including posts from people who swear blind that there are ways around certain tax liabilities when there are, in fact, not. Be careful. Get independent, professional advice to avoid making a costly mistake.
 
bakerbhoy said:
You will just have to marry the lass.Thats the only way.
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There is a way around gift tax implications once she has been living there for 6 years or more so you would be wise to wait another year in that regard. But go to your solicitor who will advise you as to stamp duty, gift tax etc...
 
Madangan said:
There is a way around gift tax implications once she has been living there for 6 years or more so you would be wise to wait another year in that regard. But go to your solicitor who will advise you as to stamp duty, gift tax etc...
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the dwelling house exemption no longer applies to gifts in these circumstances.
 
Nige said:
the dwelling house exemption no longer applies to gifts in these circumstances.
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Since when? The purpose (or one of them) of this exemption for gift tax was to assist non marital couples. I dont believe this has changed.
 
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