Sale of unregistered house

<p>My parents bought a plot of land in 1953 and built a house on it. My father died in 1999 and my mother in 2022. &#160;They lived in the same house all this time and it was never registered with the Land Registry. &#160;I spent nearly 10 years living full time in my mother’s house looking after her as she had dementia.&#160;&#160;I had a flat in London which I sold shortly after my mother died and on the advice of my accountant declared my mother’s house as my main residence. &#160;</p> <p></p> <p>We then found out that my mother’s house had been sold from the estate of my mother as the house wasn’t registered with the Land Registry. &#160; You cannot claim Private Residents Relief on an&#160;estate. Because of this I cannot declare my mother’s house as my main residence for capital gains tax purposes. &#160;It doesn’t seem right that because the house wasn’t registered with the land registry (and had never been registered since it was built in 1953) that I have to pay £55,000 in capital gains tax.&#160;</p> <p></p> <p>My sister and I were both executors of my mother’s will and also both inherited 50% each of our mother’s house. Our solicitors did not mention that we should register the house with the Land Registry. &#160;When I sold my London flat that wasn’t registered with the Land Registry either.</p> <p></p> <p>I have just found a photocopy of the TRI form for the sale of my mother’s house and this says Transferor: my sister’s name and my name.&#160;&#160;Does this mean that my mother’s house had been put into my sister’s and my name with the Land&#160;Registry?<br> <br> &#160;</p>

Penelope - if the property is unregistered then it's been put into nobody's name and remains as part of your late Father's estate it seems<br> Whilst your Mother may have inherited the property on his death the legal ownership doesn't change without a formal transfer, usually an Assent, completed by the executor. Probate (recorded will) or Letters of Administration are required to give the executor/administrator the legal authority to deal with the estate.<br> If your Mother obtained probate for your Father and you now have probate for her then you may have what is known as a chain of representation and the two of you as executors may be able to now deal with the property and transfer it as appropriate<br> If the property was sold, with you both as Transferors, then I assume that it is now registered in the name of the buyer (transferee) - you can check online for a fee to confirm the register -&#160;<a href="https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry">Search for land and property information - GOV.UK</a><br> We don't deal with the tax issues you refer to and I would recommend you contact HMRC if you have any Qs or issues that require assistance

<p>Thank you for your reply. &#160;My sister and I sold my mother’s house in January 2023. &#160;I think what I am trying to say is that I would like to declare my mother’s house as my main home (on the advice of my accountant) but because the house was not registered with the Land Registry in the names of myself and my sister it was sold from the estate of my mother. &#160;As I had not sold my mother’s house before we thought this was the normal procedure. Even though my sister and I inherited the house and were the legal owners it means that for capital gains tax purposes this now applies to the estate and not on myself and my sister. &#160;I therefore cannot claim capital gains tax relief for my half of the house as it has been sold as belonging to the estate of my mother rather than me. This has all been caused by the fact that the house was not registered with the Land Registry. &#160;We used a firm of solicitors but they never mentioned any of this to us. I have tried to contact them but they don’t want to get involved! &#160;I agree that this is also a HMRC matter but they take about a year to reply to a letter.</p>