Declaration of trust: where might I find it??

[Sara107]

Can anyone advise me? When dh and I bought our house we weren't married and he put a much bigger deposit down as he had a house to sell. We were advised by the solicitor to own the house as tenants in common, he with a 56% share, me 44%. Now we're married and I've got some money to put into the house - could pay off the mortgage. But I want to change the ownership to joint tenants. It looks straightforward, you just fill in a form. But there should be a legal document detailing the current arrangement and I don't have anything, or ever remember having anything. I kept everything from the house sale, and all I have is a page of information on the different types of ownership and a pencilled note scribbled on the bottom. Where on earth would you go to find this deed? The solicitor who did our conveyancing is long gone.

Speak to your mortgage advisor. Or get a solicitor to find the deeds and make the change (the deed is tr6 I think).

You would definitely need the lender to agree to the change. There might early redemption fees if you are still tied into a fixed term mortgage. I would speak with your mortgage advisor really.

All the best

Thanks, I just thought maybe we should have a document but maybe it indeed with the deeds. Do the mortgage company have those? I was on top of it all at the time but have completely forgotten! I think from the paying off point of view we're ok, we're just on the standard base rate which you can get out of any time.

Yes - the mortgage company holds the deed as a guarantee for the loan against the house which is of course the mortgage.

We had a deed of trust done when we bought our house as I put a lot more in and we weren't married at the time. I thought my solicitor told me once we were married it became redundant as everything would be 50:50. Is that not the case?

My husband thinks that Riding, but I'm not sure. I think if you were married and didn't make other arrangements that would be the default, but I don't know if marriage would override a prior trust. No idea though, and in the event of a split up I don't know whether a previous deed would be over ruled by a court anyway if it was not in the best interest of the children.