Online conveyancing for transfer of equity

June 20, 2024 8:46 AM

I'm in England with 75% ownership of a freehold home which is let out to a tenant, and my mum is the owner of the other 25%. My mum wants to give the other 25% to me. Does anyone have experience with online conveyancing for transfer of equity, and if so can you recommend it.

A little history on this: my parents bought this as a gift in 2005 with a split of 50% to me, 25% to my dad and 25% to my mum, with the benefits of the rent (and property management via a property management company) going to me. In 2009, my dad signed over his 25% to me in an in-person transaction at a Land Registry office, which was fine. My mum's kept her 25% since then, and as someone who was a conveyancing solicitor in the 1980s and 1990s, she'd much rather do the gifting through a lawyer like a normal person.

So given that this seems to be a simple, low risk transaction, does it make sense to use an online conveyancer rather than having to worry about being schmoozed in a fancy office by a local solicitor. I'm definitely struggling to find local solicitors whose offices are not intimidatingly opulent, and don't know anyone local to ask.

posted by food of the sock gods to Law & Government (3 answers total)

Response by poster: I've just filled out an enquiry form that was offering me a quote and it is acting as an introductory agency to a solicitor, and had a split of charges that seemed to show that some was being disbursed (their words) to the person they'd introduced me to. I'm not that confident about the general communication style of the website, but would I be right in thinking that this is how most online conveyancers work?
posted by food of the sock gods at 9:10 AM on June 20

Although it seems like a simple transaction, there may be Capital Gains Tax implications for your mum, so she'll need to be aware of that and maybe take advice on it.
posted by essexjan at 12:03 PM on June 20

It should be sufficiently straightforward that any solicitor that does residential conveyancing will be able to handle it. You can just ask the local solicitors for a price and see whether it's reasonable. For less opulent solicitors offices, you probably need to go to a less affluent area. They can definitely be very ordinary.
posted by plonkee at 2:02 PM on June 20