Readers' forum : Inter-spouse transfer

I have a client who is a 45% taxpayer who purchased six buy-to-let properties a few years ago in his own name. With rising rents fewer instances of repairs and maintenance and lower interest rates they are producing a significant profit.

Because they were purchased with interest-only mortgages I have advised that he should consider gifting 90% to 95% of the net equity to his spouse whose earnings are between £8 000 and £10 000 a year.

For the gift to be effective I am not sure whether he needs to register this as a deed gift with Land Registry or whether a signed declaration of trust and Form 17 would suffice for HMRC purposes.

Advice from Taxation readers would be much appreciated.

Query 19 016– Property Owner.

Reply by Tower

It is simple to change the beneficial ownership of UK property. It is not...