Joint Ownership – Advantages and Disadvantages

by Readers Question

8:46 AM, 22nd May 2015, 11 years ago 4

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Landlord News Landlords Questions

I haven’t posted before although I have been reading for some time and discovered all sorts of very useful stuff – great site!

My wife and I intend to invest in a BTL property shortly but are unsure of whether to put it in joint names. As my wife is a non-taxpayer we have always had savings accounts in her name to minimise tax.

Are there any disadvantages to this course of action for a BTL? Would her lack of other income make it be more difficult to mortgage the property in the future?

Thanks for your responses

Joe

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Neil Patterson Read Full Bio

Member Since February 2011 - Comments: 3453 - Articles: 286

8:51 AM, 22nd May 2015, About 11 years ago

Hi Joe,

Apart from the taxable income being in your wife’s name another Pro is that lenders often have a maximum number of properties per applicant so if you have two individual applicants rather than one joint you can double the number with one lender.

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James dengel

Member Since March 2015 - Comments: 40

10:46 AM, 22nd May 2015, About 11 years ago

I think another pro is that if you did need to sell you could use both CG tax allowances.

So that would be 22K of CG allowance.

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Eddie Marchant

Member Since April 2014 - Comments: 2

12:24 PM, 22nd May 2015, About 11 years ago

Hi – you need a Declaration of Trust which allows you to own the property in joint names but maximise the tax advantage on rental income by allocating ownership 99:1 in favour of your wife. Hawkins Ryan Solicitors are good in this area (see lega tab)

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Joe Bean

Member Since January 2015 - Comments: 1

6:31 PM, 22nd May 2015, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by “Eddie Marchant” at “22/05/2015 – 12:24“:

I hadn’t heard of that and will definitely get some further advice. Is this something that has to be done at purchase or can it be done later?
Is it expensive?

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