Transferring property on death

[stockywarrior11]

Hi all, hoping you can help me with a situation that seems like it should be easy to sort out but I'm struggling to find the answer...

My Mum and Dad jointly owned their house. There is no mortgage on it. In June 2021 my Mum passed away, but Dad didn't go through the process of updating the Land Registry to show that he was the sole owner now.

Fast forward, and unfortunately I lost my Dad to cancer in December 2022. Dad had a will and I am the sole beneficiary (only child). Probate has been granted. All paperwork is in order re the death.

But, Land Registry still shows property as being in their joint possession. How do I sort out the fact that this should have been changed to just Dad as the owner from the date of Mums passing, which would have meant I could now just transfer ownership from Dad to me now with the grant of probate?

This might be quite easy, but the admin around their deaths has hit me hard and I'm struggling. Any help greatly appreciated xxx

I’m sorry for your loss and I know exactly how you feel about the admin.
If they jointly owned the property then surely all you need is the death certificate and their marriage certificate to prove he is the remaining owner.

Assume you're in England/Wales; it'll be different in Scotland.

There are two main ways people can jointly own land/houses. Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common.

If they held their home as joint tenants your Mum's half would pass to your Dad automatically irrespective if will/intestacy. Tenants in Common have a defined share of the property which passes in accordance with their will or, if there is no will, the law relating to intestacy.

Joint tenants is pretty common for married couples and I'd guess that's probably how your parents were but one would need to see the deeds to be sure.

I'd be asking the person who dealt with your Father's estate, or a conveyancer, to check and advise what exactly you need to do.

The Land Registry website should have instructions but it's not too complicated. Send certified copies of both death certificates and both their Wills showing the chain of succession along with the appropriate forms.
If you put in a Google search for sample Land Reg forms for your circumstances it will tell you how to do it. Land Reg are also very helpful on the phone and on Chat.
Otherwise just ask a conveyancing solicitor to do it for you. It will probably be about £500 but that might be a bit optimistic.

You may need to fill in a Deceased Joint Proprietor form if they weren't Joint Tenants, you can do this yourself and download the form from the .Gov we3bsite.

It will be fine, try not to worry. My dad had been dead 20 years when my mum died last year, all we needed was his death certificate to transfer the property to me. It was also under a charge with the LA for care home fees but they were fine with it still being in joint names.

I'm currently waiting for the land registry to get its act together and send me confirmation that I now own my late parents' house. It wasn't straightforward as the house had never been registered (all their paperwork was just for the plot) and so I had to pay a solicitor to sort it all out. Waiting time for the LR is over a year.

Good luck - hope yours is simpler!

Yes Heron first registrations take over a year

Don’t worry, we put father in laws house in his sole name after mother in law died, when we sold house, Solicitor had to put the house in our names first, so we shouldn’t have bothered, as it delayed the sale by 3 weeks.

Hi everyone

Thank you so much for your kind efforts and support. I'll go through everything again and take on board all of your advice. I'm a lot happier knowing others have dealt with the same and found a path through.

I've found the whole thing a bit difficult actually. The amount of time spent on hold trying to work out everything has been insane. I think I'm getting close to the end now, so hopefully will be able to put these massive files to bed soon...

sw xxx

If you are selling it - Do NOTHING, certainly don’t put it in your name.
The conveyancers will do it all.

My FiL’s house wasn’t even regiatered at the LR when he died - to sell we needed the Deeds, his will and my MiL’s will plus probate.

Sorry also to read of your loss. You can use our assisted online guidance to source the information and forms you need
If it was in their joint names then treat it as a transfer from a sole owner to the beneficiary. Then include a certified copy of your Mum’s death certificate along with the forms AP1, AS1, certified copy probate and form ID1/ID3 as appropriate re your identity verification
The TIC aspect mentioned may be relevant if there’s a form A restriction on the register - see PG6 section 7 if there is on how to cancel it
Im assuming you’ve checked the register to confirm their joint ownership already
This may seem a lot to digest and complete but work through the guidance and forms methodically and all should be fine.
We don’t need the wills.
And there will be a lengthy wait before it’s processed but if you are keeping the property then how long it takes to update is not something to worry about

@LandRegRep1862 can I ask a question ? FIL died thirty years ago. I doubt that anyone put the house into just MIL's name and I was advised not to put it in mine by your helpline. Will this hold up the conveyancing process ?

PuppyMcPupFace - it shouldn’t be an issue re the conveyancing as very sadly deaths are factual and proven by way of the death certificate for example