Mother claiming ownership of property that husband gifted to daughter 20 yr's ago

[tld2004]

Hi all,

Some help please re: property ownership… here is a high level overview:

• A rental property was purchased 22 years ago by Mr and Mr Smith. The property was registered at land registry in both names, and a mortgage was taken out, also in both names. The property was rented out to tenants short term.
• 2 years later, ownership of the property changed hands to their 18 year old daughter, Alice Smith. 99.5% of the property was put into Alice’s name, with 0.5% ownership being retained by Mr Smith. This ownership split was due to Alice’s young age/mortgage purposes, and because he wanted eventual majority ownership to be in his daughters name, and no longer his wife's.
• A joint mortgage was taken out in the names of Mr Smith and his daughter, Alice Smith. This change was formalised in the normal way, and land registry records updated accordingly. Mrs Smith was therefore by all accounts removed entirely, with Mr Smith and Alice Smith being sole owners and beneficiaries.
• Around the same time, Alice moved in with her partner, and gave the rental income to her father (a gesture of goodwill for him originally gifting her the property etc, and her not needing it, currently living with partner). Alice paid income tax on this rental income but gave all/most of it away to her father.
• The property remained owned by Alice and her Father (99.5%/0.5% split respectively) until approx 5-7 years ago, where Mr Smith sold his remaining share in the property to his daughter, Alice Smith. He no longer wanted the share of the property and wanted it to all go to Alice. It was his final gift to her. This was formalised by a formal sale process of the 0.5% with solicitors etc, Alice transferring £ to her father's bank account for his remaining 0.5% share, and Alice Smith then renewed the lease in her own name (as it was getting low).
• At this stage, Alice Smith became the sole legal owner, mortgage payer, and beneficiary of the property. All straight forward. No other registered interests. She continued to rent out the property...
• Mr Smith passed away in 2023, and Alice Smith and her mother Mrs Smith stopped talking due to complex family differences etc etc.
• Since Mr Smith’s passing, and because Alice Smith and her mother no longer talk, she has recently received communication her mother claiming to “have the original paperwork that says she was the owner (22 years ago)” and the property is still 50% her's, and she now wants the rent to be paid to her. She is now threatening legal action against her daughter unless she starts transferring Mrs Smith rent..

Her mother has not been on either the deeds nor mortgage for over 20 years. She claims that because she was once on the deeds, or was "there" when it was first purchased, the property is still hers!


What are your view's on Alice’s position?

Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

[Pezza54]

22 years ago Mr and Mrs Smith owned the property as joint tenants/
Mrs Smith, the mother, would have had to sign documents for a transfer of share ownership to her daughter 20 years ago
Who was the solicitor involved in the transfer?

[tld2004]

22 years ago Mr and Mrs Smith owned the property as joint tenants/
Mrs Smith, the mother, would have had to sign documents for a transfer of share ownership to her daughter 20 years ago
Who was the solicitor involved in the transfer?

Unsure. Would have been dealt with by Mr Smith, and I suspect that Mrs Smith has since found that very paperwork that has her name on it...

[atticus]

Alice should find a copy of the transfer into joint names of herself and her father. A copy can probably be obtained from the Land Registry.

[tld2004]

I did mention it in the original post but to confirm - the property was leasehold and had only circa 60 years left on the lease - so once Mr Smith’s ownership was transferred to Alice Smith, and it became solely hers 5-7 years ago, she renewed the lease on the property by herself.

If Mrs Smith did have an interest or ownership share in the property at that time then it would have been identified when the Conveyancing solicitor renewed the lease, surely?

[atticus]

Everything you have said suggests that Mrs Smith had ceased to have an interest. Find the evidence to prove it. I have already suggested how.