Joint tenancy survivorship, tenants in common, HM Land Registry DJP evidence, IHT treatment, severing a joint tenancy, and what to do when co-owners cannot agree.
This guide is part of ProbateHelp's Estate Assets guide cluster. Estimated reading time: 16 min.
It depends on the type of ownership. A joint tenancy property passes automatically to the surviving owner by survivorship and does not go through probate for the property transfer. A tenants in common property share forms part of the estate and may need probate or letters of administration before it can be transferred or sold.
If you were joint tenants, you are entitled to the whole property by survivorship and can usually sell once the Land Registry title and any mortgage records are updated. If you were tenants in common, you cannot sell the whole property without the agreement of whoever inherits the deceased's share, or a court order under TOLATA.
The deceased's share passes under the intestacy rules. A spouse or civil partner may inherit under those rules, depending on the size of the estate and whether there are children. An unmarried partner does not inherit automatically, even if they lived in the property with the deceased.
Download the title register from HM Land Registry and check the proprietorship register. A Form A restriction usually points to tenants in common. If there is no restriction, the owners are likely joint tenants, but you should also check the transfer deed, any declaration of trust, and the conveyancer's file if the answer matters.
Either joint tenant can sever the joint tenancy and convert it to tenants in common by serving a written notice on the other owner. The other owner does not have to agree, but the notice must be served. You cannot sever a joint tenancy retrospectively after one owner has died.
Transfers between spouses and civil partners are normally exempt from inheritance tax regardless of value. Even so, executors still need to consider the deceased's interest when valuing the estate and completing any required IHT forms.
A co-ownership discount may apply when valuing a deceased person's share in a property because a share can be harder to sell than the whole property. It is not automatic and HMRC may challenge the valuation, so executors should take valuation advice for taxable or borderline estates.