transfer of ownership

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:54 pm

Is is possible to transfer a property title from one member of the family to another. I appreciate that this is not a simple question and requires legal assistance, but I exploring the possibility prior to taking the matter forward.

Essentially the property is currently very difficult to sell due to unauthorised extension added 20 years ago. As a family member would it be possible to transfer the deeds and deal with the problem ourselves in due course?

I know this needs specialist advise but could do with an initial steer.

thanks in advance

Gambrinus · Post by **Gambrinus** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:23 pm

In theory it should not be possible to transfer ownership of the property untill the documentation is regularized and the annexe is either inserted in the council plans or torn down.

I cannot say wether there is a possibility to circumvent this with an inheritance or similar "internal" transfer, but given the current state of things I would guess not.

As you rightly pointed out, unless you are going to make an effort to legalize the annexe yourself via re-planning and submission of an alterations project through an architect, seeking professional legal advice should be your next logical step to ascertain your position.

joanne · Post by **joanne** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:04 am

Before we sold our Apartment we asked our Solic if we could put the Apartment in my parents names as we did not want 2 sets of bills, and we were told that this was ok to do in Portugal, as no money would be changing hands. Speak to your Solic as we did.

charles hewitt · Post by **charles hewitt** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:17 pm

as i understand it; there is a nil rate inhertiance tax but a 10% capital transfer tax in Portugal. that may be relevant.

cereza · Post by **cereza** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:46 pm

I know of 2 brothers who co-owned a villa and then one decided to buy the other out. They could not just simply change the ownership details and they had to complete an actual sale which entailed both brothers paying capital gains tax on both their 50% shares and the buying brother then paying the equivalent of stamp duty on 100%- all at the current market value. Very costly so be warned and check it out carefully.

joanne · Post by **joanne** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:04 am

I was talking about just putting the apartment in my parents names, so the Solic said it would be classed as a gift, and so no tax etc would be payable just his fees, he said if it was between family members it was ok as long as it was sorted by a Solic, we were not taking any money of them, so this prob makes a difference.

Gambrinus · Post by **Gambrinus** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:39 am

Chris wrote:unauthorised extension

I still think you will not be able to transfer anything to anyone untill this is solved.

suziebear · Post by **suziebear** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:54 pm

OK heres one for you, is it possible that an offshore company can give their assets ie villa to someone as a gift?

Gambrinus · Post by **Gambrinus** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 1:47 pm

Are you saying transfer the ownership from the offshore company to a private person or just transfer the ownership of the company (shares)?

You can transfer the shares to anyone you please without red tape, but the second the property comes out of the offshore company it will inevitably be subjected to a re-evaluation. Wether it being a gift makes it exempt from capital gains I cannot say for sure, but I seriously doubt it.

suziebear · Post by **suziebear** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:13 am

Yes, weve had the property since it was built and quite a few years ago we were given bad advice (and took it!!) to move it to an offshore company and now we are coming to live there, we want it back in our own names. However, we have been told that the "Company" would have to sell it to us, at todays value - this seems rather stupid as its ours and always has been ours. Surely there must be something we can do as n monies are going to made out of the "sale"-we just want our house in our names.[/quote]

Farol · Post by **Farol** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:47 am

The property is not yours - it belongs to the company. You happen to own shares in the company. Situation seems quite clear - the company wants to sell an asset to somebody else (which happens to be you) so you need to go through the full process and pay accordingly to do so. As far as the council is concerned it is a change of ownership.

But it begs the question why do you want to do this? If it is to try to save mony then it is a trade off of the potential saving versus the cost of doing it. If it is not financial but some other reason then I guess you just have to accept the charges.

suziebear · Post by **suziebear** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:08 pm

Yes, I know this but all we want is OUR house in OUR names and it is really infuriating - why should we have to pay XXXamount of pounds for our own house when we are not doing it to make monies or avoid anything (apart from the £££'s we pay for "managing" our company(!). Is it really too much to ask - aaaaaaaaagggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!

Mexican Pete · Post by **Mexican Pete** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:40 pm

an offshore company

May I ask where?

suziebear · Post by **suziebear** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:03 am

Gib - why?

Mexican Pete · Post by **Mexican Pete** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:46 am

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I was simply interested to know whether or not the company was incorporated in a “black listed” jurisdiction, which I believe Gib is. Had the property been held via a nominee company incorporated in, for example, the UK, then I think there would have been some very good reasons to stick with the corporate ownership structure.