conveyancing Colne

Expert Guide to Joint Ownership and Trust Law: 2 Essential Ways to Protect Your Property

by
joint ownership argument in progress

Updated 16/07/2026

Joint ownership and trust law – useful for understanding how equitable title works.

However, the golden rule is the case of Stack v Dowden – if you do not sign your declaration of trust (when you buy a house or land) – the joint owners IN EQUITY are joint tenants owning 50% each AND that share passes by survivorship to the other joint owner when one dies – this means your will is irrelevant to land held under an equitable joint tenancy.

If you sever (change from) a joint tenancy by serving notice – you become tenants in common with 50% each. If you want to have unequal shares, or other conditions (life interest springs to mind) – then you must draw up a trust deed and sign it.

You also need to remember there are two sets of rules.

Legal owners – i.e. the ones the Land Registry put on part B of the HMLR title – are always recorded as ‘Joint Tenants’ and no more than five BUT this is a separate issue to equity (how money is split). Legal owners are trustees of the equity. Equitable title can be held in any reasonable way you agree – the owners can be the same people, or totally different people with different shares.

Here’s the old advice mainly for posterity… it’s provided for information only and you need independent legal advice before committing yourself either way ! I’d say advice is the minimum – you really must understand it before you tick a box or agree to something and commit yourself.

“Please read this email carefully.

OWNING A PROPERTY JOINTLY

You have received this email as there is more than one person buying the property and you have to decide how to share the property with the other person or people.

When two or more people are purchasing a property, there are two ways in which the property can be held, namely “Joint Tenants” or “Tenants in Common”. You need to think about which is best for all of you and then tell us how you want to proceed. Every property has two titles, a legal title and an equitable title. Legal titles are always held as “joint tenants” no matter what. The equitable title i.e. how you split the money and the shares of the house, can be held as either Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common.

Tenants in Common

Owning the property as tenants in common means that the property belongs to you all but you are each regarded in law as having separate shares. It is becoming more and more common as it offers more flexibility in planning your inheritance, saves money and reduces risks in the long term.

Often the shares are equal e.g. half each. However, if one party is introducing more money into the purchase the shares can be varied i.e. 70/30, 60/40 or £X to person A and so on. If you want to have unequal shares of the property i.e. one person is paying a larger deposit, this is the option for you. Unequal shares must always be held as Tenants in common.

Being tenants in common means that in the event of death, the deceased’s share of the property passes into the deceased’s estate. If there is no will, the share passes to the person who is entitled to their estate under the intestacy rules.

Tenants in common is frequently used for example…

1. For unmarried couples, where one party is introducing more money into the purchase. e.g. first time buyers. You draft a declaration of trust to say that one party receives the deposit back when the property sells before the rest of the money is split equally.

2. Where one party has children from a previous relationship or marriage and you want to give a share of the house to them on death.

3. Older owners who are concerned about estate planning and legitimately minimising future costs, like care home costs. It is not viewed as ‘deprivation of assets’. Older couples often elect to be Tenants in Common and the pass half of the house to the children on the first death. This reduces the amount the survivor inherits. It is a good idea provided the survivor has enough savings and income to live on for the foreseeable future.

If you are considering being tenants in common please tick here [ ] – you should make a new will and include a ‘life interest’ in your will to protect your partner if you are purchasing a residential property. If you want to make a new will now, it is recommended, please tick here [ ] and we will contact you to take instructions. You will receive a discount and save money as well. It is easier to make the will as you move house – i.e. all in one go.

Please also indicate your shares of the property e.g. 60% : 40%…………………. or add any special instructions you think are relevant here

………………………………………………………………….

Joint Tenants

Owning the property as joint tenants means you will not own any specific shares in the property and you cannot give away a share of the property in your Will. All joint owners have an equal share of the equity in the property. In the event of death of one of you, that persons share or interest in the property automatically passes to the surviving owner or owners. 

Joint tenants is commonly used between married couples where there is not an advantage to defining separate shares in a property and where you require the property to automatically pass to the surviving owner. It is simpler to arrange and less time consuming. If you want to be joint tenants please tick here [ ]

joint ownership and trust law - setting up a new trust of land when you move into a new house

Joint tenants moving into their new house – frequently a difficult and fraught time!

Selling a House Without an EPC: Is It Money Laundering or Proceeds of Crime Under POCA?

Mortgage Repossession UK 2026 | When Can a Bank Repossess Your Home? Stay in control and reduce legal costs

Buying a Converted Property: Mortgage Risks, PCCs and Essential Legal Checks

The Great Taking flop? How to check ‘ has your mortgage been securitised’ – with a free SAR Template (UK 2026)

Section 78 of the Land Registration Act 2002. The ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing for land owners. How legal owners are controlled with HM Land Registry Restrictions

Essential 13-Step Guide to Conveyancing: Buying and Selling a House in the UK

by

Short Answer – 13 steps which are equally important. 3 are more equal than the others – exchange (2) completion (3) and (12) payment of funds. Read on to find out why

Conveyancing Process - image of a very stress family moving house!

Moving house can be rather stressful! ^^^ AI image by Grok

This is another conveyancing process advice email from my CSB days – it’s still pretty good, explaining in broad terms how conveyancing procedure works – how you buy and sell a house or a piece of land. If you’re going through a sale or a purchase it’s worth reading, but you must remember to take advice from you solicitor specific to your case (or get in touch with us!) this is useful guidance only!

The old email!>>>>

“You have been sent this email with general advice so that you know the procedure works for exchange, completion, change over times, dates, funds, insurance and risk and moving house.

1. Starting file (the conveyancing process!)

The estate agents sends out head of term, the sellers solicitor prepares a contract and the buyers solicitor investigates the deeds. Nothing is legally binding at this stage, although you have to pay your solicitor for their work. The investigation is to establish that the seller is entitled to sell and if you are getting a mortgage, that there are no third parties who’s interest can rank ahead of the bank’s charge on the property. E.g. Donor’s giving deposits, covenants with neighbouring land owners to pay charges or not to alter the property, rights of way over your house or the neighbours house, rights of people in occupation not on the deeds such as tenant’s, lodgers, partner’s or spouses. If you are aware of any such rights please tell us immediately in writing. If your bank sends a mortgage offer without an occupiers waiver we shall assume there will be no occupiers!

2. Exchange of contracts is the start of the contract. 

You will soon sign one half of the contract and the other party signs the other half of the contract. Your solicitor then exchanges your part contract for with the other solicitor on the phone using the ‘law society formula B’. Before this point the price and the dates can change and neither party can force the other to sell or buy. You should not make any permanent arrangements until contracts have been exchanged.

3. Completion. 

Once you have exchanged contracts the dates and the price are fixed. You can book vans, make arrangements and rely on the money to arrive on time. The seller must sell and the buyer must buy. The buyer pays 10% to the seller (held by the solicitors) on exchange to start the contract. The other 90% is payable on or before the last day on the contract. This is completion. The contract is complete once 100% of the money is paid by the time and date stated in the contract. The seller must vacate the property by the time stipulated in the contract. Any other occupiers must also join the contract and move out at the same time.

4. The change over time 

The change over time is usually 2:00pm on the day of completion. The seller moves out before 2:00pm, the buyer moves in after 2:00pm. Some contracts change the time by special condition. Please check with your solicitor for the change over time. Please remember to take meter readings on completion when you move out / in.

5. Deposit 

10 % is payable by the buyer on exchange of contracts to the seller. The solicitors hold the deposit until completion. Some properties (e.g. new builds) require the deposit to be released immediately to the seller. Check with your solicitor if you are unsure.

6. Risk 

The risk for the property passes usually on exchange. The buyer insures from exchange, the deposit and the contract are an insurable interest and can even be registered by notice at H M Land Registry.

7. Insurance 

The buyer should insure from when the risk passes to him, usually on exchange of contracts. If the property is damaged during the contract, the buyer should complete and claim on their insurance. The buyer cannot cancel the contract because the property is damaged.

8. Breach of contract 

This happens very rarely, but it is very serious. If one party does not stick to the terms of contract once exchanged then there is a breach. Interest is payable on the delayed time and funds at the rate set out on the contract. Typically, the buyer’s funds will be late from a bank, or not arrive at all. In an extreme case the buyer may loose their deposit altogether and become liable for costs, or a seller may not pay off their mortgage properly or move out of the house. This is a very serious matter, it is a very rare occurance and you will need legal advice to resolve it.

9. Keys for the property 

As solicitors we do not deal with keys for the property, or the condition of the property generally. If the seller is using an estate agents (or our firm as the estate agent) then the agent will generally hold one key and release this key to you on completion of the transaction. All of the other available keys will be left at the property and there is no guarantee that there will be a key for every lock. As a matter of security and safety the buyer should change all the locks for the property after the purchase has completed. You should check the sellers property information form for any special arrangements for the keys.

10. Storage of Deeds 

When the matter is complete the sellers solicitor sends your deeds to the buyers solicitor. The sellers solicitor pays off any mortgages on the property and passes the net sale proceeds to the sellers and closes the file. The buyers solicitor receives the deeds and pays the stamp duty for the property, if any. The buyers solicitor applies to HM Land Registry to register the purchase and any mortgage. Once the purchase is registered the purchasers solicitor can balance the ledgers (as their can be additional HMLR costs) and close the file. If we are acting in your purchase we can store the old historic deeds for you (storage charges are set out in your client care letter). Alternatively you can collect and store them yourself at your own risk. If we store your deeds and we are instructed by more than one purchaser, in order to release the deeds we have to ID check each purchaser and all parties have to agree who can collect the deeds. We can only give the deeds to one person, we can’t give half of the deeds to one person and half of them to another person as they are original documents. After three years we will need to renew your ID checks and there is a small admin fee for this.

11. HMLR Property alert service * new from 1st May 2019 –

You can sign up to the HMLR property alert service to stay up to date with land registry dealings with your property. “Property Alert is an award winning free property monitoring service aimed at anyone who feels a registered property could be at risk from fraud”. Property Alert is an award winning free property monitoring service aimed at anyone who feels a registered property could be at risk from fraudFull details herewith. Click through to sign up a new account and start getting updates >> https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk

12 – SPLITTING FUNDS and PAYMENT OF FUNDS in completion of a sale.

There are broadly three circumstances>>>1) Sole owners are simple to seal with – the net proceeds of sale are sent to the sole owner.2) If there is more than one owner and you hold the property as joint tenants in equity we should either (1) split the funds equally between you or (2) pay the funds to your joint bank account. Again this is relatively simple.3) If there is more than one owner and you hold the equity as tenants in common – you need to send to us the transfer deed or declaration of trust from when you acquired the property so we can calculate your shares. HMLR do not record trust information under a tenancy in common,HMLR only indicate that there is trust in place. Therefore we have to check your declaration of trust as shares in the equity may be unequal shares or may be payable to a third party not recorded at HMLR. The declaration of trust dictates how the equity is split. This will either be in the transfer deed from your acquisition of the property, or in a separate declaration held be trustees. It may be also be in a severence of the joint tenancy (normally 50% each under a severence). If a tenant in common has passed away we may need to contact the deceased executors or administrators to pay out their share and there may be some extra charges.

13 – Costs and Insurance if your case does not complete or exchange

Please also remember you can now obtain insurance to cover legal expenses in case your case falls through and fails to exchange and complete – the policies are available on the open market and you should check whether you can get a policy to mitigate the risks and costs. If in doubt please get financial advisors to assist you to arrange one of these policies.

Please do not worry – contact us if you have any questions about procedure!