I am struggling to come to a conclusion on a matter I am reviewing and would welcome your help!
What is the effect of a form DJP….?
H and W own a property as TIC (with a form A restriction). W dies leaving everything to H. H sends off a form DJP to HMLR, but doesn’t deal with the restriction (very common I think!).
H dies a few years later. Is he is the beneficial owner of the whole property? Would his executors report the whole house on the IHT400 or half a house and an interest in an unadministered estate? Does his failure to remove the restriction change this? Is the restriction merely evidence of the ownership position rather than the position itself? I regard the restriction (and removal) as an administrative step, not a declaration of ownership.
What about income? If the property is a rental property, at what point does the entitlement to income (and liability for tax) change hands (if at all?). The date of the DJP? What would HMRC think?!
My matter is more complicated. There was a NRBDT in the wife’s Will.
AFTER the date of the DJP, there is a deed of appointment which purports to appoint out of the trust (within 2 years) the trust’s share of the property. The same document declares that the trust was constituted with £325k worth of the rental property.
On the date of W’s death, H became the sole proprietor of the legal estate (section 1(6) LPA 1925.
A DJP application is merely an application for alteration of the register to remove from the register the name of a deceased joint proprietor (rule 164 Land Registration Rules 2003). Surely the date of the application for alteration (being the date the DJP application was received by HMLR) has no bearing on the legal position that W became the sole legal proprietor upon H’s death.
The second part of your question relates to the 50% beneficial interest of W. To be correctly administered, the beneficial interest would need to be assented by the personal representatives to H. This assent could have been in writing, but it could have been implied by the conduct of the personal representatives. I appreciate that the conclusion of an implied assent by conduct does not give you a specific date on which H became the beneficial owner.
The Form A restriction has no relevance to the ownership position. All it confirms is that a sole proprietor cannot give valid receipt for capital monies. It is evidence that the property is held on a trust of land but is not the position itself.