Title Splitting while retaining ownership - 1 plot into 3 houses...

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Iain Large

New Member
Help!

I have a plot of land in Chelmsford with a 9 Bed HMO on it, I have planning in to split the HMO into two houses and to build a new house on the end - pre agreed at pre app, expected in 2 weeks.

The property is currently owned in our SPV Limited Company.

We want to split the title into 3 seperate titles to mortgage each property separately yet retain ownership of all three within our Ltd on a freehold basis.

As we're not selling it's proving a little complicated - all the solicitors are telling me that although it is possible that Land Registry will split the titles - we can't grant access rights to ourselves, so, when coming to mortgaging those new houses the titles won't stand up for mortgage purposes.

It's been suggested we transfer the properties into another part of the company, creating the 'transfer' required to go through the necessary legal steps of granting access rights etc. I'm awaiting tax advice but assuming this route isn't ideal tax wise and I don't really want these properties to leave the main SPV anyway.

Has anyone managed to split a title and retained ownership of all the titles and successfully re mortgaged those properties?

With build to rent being popular this has to be doable....!

Any and all help appreciated...

(We'll be building with our own inhouse building company and be managing the properties ourselves if that has any impact on anything)
 
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realdeals

Active Member
This all seems a little bizarre to me - transferring the properties to another part of your group (with no change in underlying ownership) seems over the top. However, I have done some digging and it does seem as though granting access rights to yourself is not straight forward. Maybe take advice from another property expert just to ensure nothing has been missed?

Could you not transfer each proeprty into a seperate SPV or would this simply duplicate costs?
 
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Iain Large

New Member
This all seems a little bizarre to me - transferring the properties to another part of your group (with no change in underlying ownership) seems over the top. However, I have done some digging and it does seem as though granting access rights to yourself is not straight forward. Maybe take advice from another property expert just to ensure nothing has been missed?

Could you not transfer each proeprty into a seperate SPV or would this simply duplicate costs?
Hi RealDeals,

I'm awaiting advice from my accountant regarding the tax implications of setting up another SPV within the company structure but this route is bound to incur additional costs and goes against the point of having the SPV in the first place.

Really hoping there is a more straightforward way to proceed.

Thanks for having a look.
 
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nmb

Well-Known Member
Whatever the final decision it looks like it is going to be fairly costly, both in terms of advice and actually setting up alternative vehicles. All seems a bit bizarre to me - do we have anyone on the forum who can advise on a sensible solution to this issue?
 
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Iain Large

New Member
Update:

It's sounding like the only way to do this will to be - Set up a new Ltd, wholly owned by the original Ltd (therefore no tax in transferring the property) and move the properties across which will then provide the transfer required for the access rights etc. to be granted.

It's going to mean an increase in the bill from the accountants and the cost of setting up a new SPV for holding property.

Be delighted if anyone had any further suggestions or advice?
 
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