What You Need To Know About Title Transfers
A title is a certificate of ownership. It is a record proving who owns the property. When you add someone to your title, you give that individual an interest in your property. There are various reasons people may want to add someone to their title. One reason could include that when a person gets married, they own a house in which their spouse will be moving into, and therefore, they may want to add them to the title too.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of adding someone to your title?
Adding a spouse to your title can be advantageous. If something happened to one person, the spouse would be protected and still own the property. Likewise, an elderly person might also want to consider adding a family member or a friend to their deed to avoid the expense of probating their home. There are a few different ways the title can be transferred depending on each individual’s circumstance. At Morris Law, we can provide you with the legal services you need to help you make the best decision for your situation.
Before adding anyone to your title, consider the disadvantages of not being your property’s sole owner. Because you are no longer the sole owner of the property, you lose partial control of it. This means that in order to refinance or sell the property, you would need consent from everyone else on the title.
Another disadvantage to consider is that if you have a mortgage, you might have a ‘due on sale clause’ as one of the terms on your contract, which could prevent you from either selling or adding anyone else to the title. If this clause is present in your agreement, you may be required to pay off your mortgage before making any changes to the ownership of it. This clause may, however, be waived by the mortgage lender if you want to add a family member to the title of the property.
How can you add someone else’s name to your title?
In BC, when adding someone to the property title, you have to file an electronic FORM A land transfer at the Land Titles Office. This means additional taxes may need to be paid due to adding someone else as a property owner. Here in BC, the Property Transfer Tax (PPT) may apply. PPT is a provincial tax payable on the fair market value of the interest in the property being transferred.
Property Transfer Tax in BC is 1% on the first $200,000. It is 2% on values above that amount and 3% on anything above $2,000,000. If the person added to the title is a foreigner, the PPT can go up to 15%. It is essential that you seek advice from reputable bc lawyers to make good decisions for yourself from a business and legal point of view, as it can become costly.
Contact our real estate law firm for help with title transfers
At Morris Law, we can provide you with the advice you need and help you make the best decisions for you and your loved ones. Contact our Vancouver law firm today!
