Form 17 for joint tenancy

[jonorl1]

My wife and I have moved abroad as she’s a diplomat working for FCDO. We have our one residential property being let which is owned as joint tenancy as opposed to tenancy in common. Over this period of time (3 years) I’ll be unemployed, so ideally tax-wise I’d declare 100% of the rental income as my own as this would be my only source of income.

When we first looked into this, we called HMRC, enquired about the form 17 which we sent back in December and now 6 months later they are asking for a “deed of trust”. I called them again, and they were basically googling this term, because the person on their side of the phone also had no idea what this is as suggested we asked a solicitor.

The solicitor replied back saying that the deed of trust applies only to tenancy in common (when you split the ownership of the property e.g. 50%/50%), so now I’m really confused as to what I need to provide back to HMRC.

Does anyone have any experience submitting a form 17 owning a house as a joint tenant? Many thanks in advance.

[David122]

My understanding is that the solicitor is correct. Form 17 doesnt change the split of beneficial ownership, it just confirms the change to HMRC. The split is only changed by a deed of trust, for which you will need a solicitor. I think this can only be done for tenants in common, but your solicitor should be able to tell you the options for joint tenants. You should also check whether there are any CGT/SDLT implications.