House Purchase in Joint Names

[carroteer]

Is it possible for me to purchase a property outright (no mortagage) and place in joint names with my daughter?

[Pezza54]

Hi
Welcome to LB

How old is your daughter?

Do you intend to live in the property?

[carroteer]

I am mid 70's she is 40. Yes I might live in it for parts of the year. The true intent to to buy her a house as her income is too small.

[atticus]

The answer to your question is yes.

[Pezza54]

I was concerned that by gifting your daughter 50% of the property, you were thinking if you lived for 7 years after making the gift, the gift would be excluded from any IHT calculation

[PallasAthena]

Do some research on the Inheritance Tax implications and also whether it is to be owned as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common. Joint property ownership: Overview - GOV.UK

Is there a reason why you want to keep it jointly owned and not just gift her the whole house unconditionally?

[carroteer]

Do some research on the Inheritance Tax implications and also whether it is to be owned as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common. Joint property ownership: Overview - GOV.UK

Is there a reason why you want to keep it jointly owned and not just gift her the whole house unconditionally?

If I buy it for her unconditionally, would that allow it to be in her name in the deeds? I thought I could only gift £3k to an offspring. Any more and it counts to inhertance tax.

[carroteer]

Is it an option for me to buy it outright, then sell it cheaply to her?

[Pezza54]

I suspect HMRC will treat the difference between the market price and the price your daughter pays you as a gift

[carroteer]

What if I buy it then make it "Joint Tenants". Then wehn I die she becomes owner outside any will I make?

[atticus]

You can give what you want. Obviously there may in due course be an Inheritance Tax liability.

Buying as joint tenants is also an option.

[Pezza54]

If you buy the house and own it as joint tenants with your daughter, and only occasionally reside at the property in the 7 years after buying it, you will need to pay your daughter 50% of the market rent for the time you stay at the house (assuming it is more than a couple of weeks each year)
You could have a formal rent agreement drafted and records kept of all rental payments made to your daughter

[PallasAthena]

Is it an option for me to buy it outright, then sell it cheaply to her?

For Inheritance Tax purposes HMRC consider any transfer of ownership at less than full market value (at date of transfer) to be a gift, wholly or in part. So if you sell to your daughter at below market value then the difference between market value and the sale price is considered by HMRC to be a gift when calculating IHT. You can sell to your daughter at any price you like but it won't help you avoid IHT.

If I buy it for her unconditionally, would that allow it to be in her name in the deeds? I thought I could only gift £3k to an offspring. Any more and it counts to inhertance tax.

If you gift a house unconditionally to your daughter (or anyone) then it is their's and they can be registered as the sole owner at the Land Registry. There is no requirement that the registered owner has to have paid money for it.

You are correct that there is an annual allowance of £3,000 that you can give away in any one tax year which is automatically exempt from IHT. It can be given to anyone, not just children. But note it is the amount you can give away in total in the year, not per person.

You can give away more than £3,000 of course - it's your money - but over £3,000 is where the 7-year rule comes comes in. It will be treated as still your money and your Estate will have to pay IHT (on a sliding scale) if you die within 7 years of making the gift. After 7 years it is exempt from IHT.

As has been noted upthread you need to be aware of something called "Gifts with reservation". That would be if, for example, you gave your daughter a house but retained the right to live in it yourself for part of the year. In that case HMRC could decide you hadn't really given it away and charge IHT on it as if you still owned it. As a generalisation you could avoid potential problems by paying rent at full open market rate for periods of the year when you lived there. The HMRC rule wouldn't prevent you visiting your daughter and staying with her as a guest though. You wouldn't have to pay rent if you just spent Christmas with her!

How Inheritance Tax works: thresholds, rules and allowances: Rules on giving gifts - GOV.UK

Work out Inheritance Tax due on gifts - GOV.UK