Severance of Joint Tenancy
- When there is more than one legal owner of a property, it can be held as 'joint tenants' or 'tenants in common'.
- To hold separate shares, you must be tenants in common. As joint tenants, you share 100% of the property, equally.
- The severance process can be quick (a week or two) if the joint tenants mutually agree. If it isn't, you'll need to factor in extra time to resolve disputes.
- Owning separate shares protects your ownership, changes inheritance, and may even save you some money in tax.
At any time, you or more co-owners of a property held as joint tenants want to separate your shares, you can sever your joint tenancy.
It reverts the ownership of the property to tenants in common, so the owners need to agree the beneficial interest split they both own in the property before severing a joint tenancy.
If you are unable to agree to your beneficial interest split, we can assist in a property dispute.
This method should only be used if you are unable to agree on a beneficial interest split with the other owners. If you can agree on who gets what share you should always protect this with a Deed of Trust, or you risk a nasty and expensive dispute if the relationship breaks down in the future.
We provide this severance and registration at the Land Registry for £260 INC VAT. You will need to upload your notice of severance.
Contact us through our online form below for a fixed-fee, no-obligation quote for our services.
Why would someone sever their joint tenancy?
Tax Purposes
Co-owners of a buy-to-let as joint tenants, look to sever the joint tenancy for tax purposes. Joint tenants share rental income equally, however, tenants in common can share income in a much more tax efficient way utilising the lower tax bracket of one of the joint owners.
They will also need a Deed of Trust to confirm the unequal share. And, if married (or civil partners) file a Form 17 disclosure to HMRC.
Separation or breakup
Joint tenants who separate by court order or mutual agreement may need to sever the joint tenancy.
The process is simple if there's a mutual agreement. However, where one party wants to separate and the other doesn't, the party wanting to sever needs to serve a notice of severance of joint tenancy.
This also means that if the property is owned jointly, one person may not be living there currently but will be able to prevent the other co-owner from selling the property.
We provide a template below to help and explain what to do if not all joint tenants sign the severance of joint tenancy.
Protecting unequal shares
Intentions can change over time you must update the Land Registry title to confirm it is held as tenants in common.
You might have started intending to share the property equally, but if one party has been renovating the property and paying the whole mortgage, for example, you might have agreed for their share to increase.
If this is the case, you'll also need a Deed of Trust to set out your new intentions. Our Floating Deed of Trust even includes a formula which will adjust your shares for you, based on your relative spend.
Inheritance
When one joint tenant dies, their share automatically belongs to the other owner(s). If you would like your share of the property to pass to someone else, you must sever the joint tenancy and make sure you have a will.
A life interest provision in a will allows the surviving owner to continue living in the property after their partner's death, but ultimately the home will be left to children (if there are any).
Arrange a free consultation with one of our experienced conveyancing executives if you are:
- Severing joint tenancy to register as tenants in common, or vice versa.
- Buying with your unmarried partner, to protect your shares in case the relationship breaks down.
- Married or civil partners let a property, and one of you is in a lower tax bracket.
- Buying with friends or family, to protect shares based on initial and ongoing contributions from each party.
- Going to invest money in unequal shares, improvements, or renovations on the property.
- Buying a property with a mortgage, where one or more borrower(s) will not be a legal proprietor.
- Unable to buy the other owner out and want to surrender your share.
Severance of joint tenancy after death
The death of a joint owner also triggers a need to update the Land Registry's details regarding your property ownership. However, this isn't a SEV Form.
The property automatically passes to the surviving owner(s) when one owner passes away, but this might not always be what the co-owner(s) want.
You'll need to complete a Deceased Joint Proprietor (DJP) form with an official copy of the death certificate.
What is the process to sever the joint tenancy?
- 1
Agree on the beneficial split
Before you sever the tenancy, you need to agree with the other co-owner(s) on the beneficial interest share. Before severance, it will be 100% equal, but after severance, it will be separate individual shares.
If you are doing this for tax reasons, you'll be sharing the equity in the most tax-efficient way, however, if you disagree with the joint owners then you may have a TOLATA dispute to prove who owns what. Falling out with your co-owner means that the beneficial interest split is allocated as per your deed.
- 2
Serve a notice of severance of joint tenancy
This is only required where the joint owners can't agree to the beneficial split or a joint owner isn't able to sign Form SEV. Notice to sever joint tenancy can be served in several different ways:
- The original or certified copy of the notice of severance and a signed acknowledgement of receipt by the other registered proprietors is enclosed.
- The original or certified copy of the notice of severance and my certificate is enclosed, confirming that the notice was given to the other registered proprietor(s), left at their last known place of abode or business in the UK or sent by registered post or recorded delivery service to them at their last known place of abode or business and not returned undelivered.
- I am the applicant’s conveyancer and I certify that I hold the original [or certified copy of] notice of severance with an acknowledgement of receipt signed by the other registered proprietors.
- I am the applicant’s conveyancer and I certify that I hold the original [or certified copy of] notice of severance and that it was served on the other registered proprietors in accordance with sections 36(2) and 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925.
Contact us if you're looking to get a notice of severance.
- 3
Complete severance of joint tenancy form
The severance of joint tenancy form is legally known as a Form SEV and can be downloaded from the Land Registry.
- 4
Submit to Land Registry
You send the form and supporting documents to HM Land Registry’s Citizen Centre. There is no Land Registry fee to pay if the application is made by mutual consent of the joint tenants.
Would you like to run through your Land Registry needs with a really helpful person?
Call us at 0333 344 3234 or request a callback/email to answer your queries about our Land Registry application services. SAM's UK-based team will explain which of our solicitor services are required to make changes to the title.
There's no obligation to instruct. We'll make sure you understand your options and provide a free, fixed-fee quote for our best-value service to meet your needs. No robots, no call centres. Property challenges solved.
Caragh is an excellent writer and copy editor of books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey, property law and mortgage-related articles.
