Splitting title

Our clients are a husband and wife who jointly own their current home which occupies 0.2836 hectares. They are thinking of building a new home in their garden and grounds with the intention of either:

• moving into the new home and selling their old one; or
• renting the new home and continuing to live in the current one.

Initially our advice was that before the work on the new home started it would be advisable to split the title of the current area into the two new proposed areas for the old and new homes. However our clients’ solicitors have advised that it is not possible to do this if the owners of both parts remain the same.

An obvious solution would be to transfer the new plot to either the husband or the wife in their sole...