Land registration with Land Registry dept mandatory in UK
Land Registry is the government department which is responsible for registering land in England and Wales. The UK law mandates that all land that is bought, sold or mortgaged must be registered. However, about a third of the land in England and Wales currently remains unregistered with the Land Registry department.
There are number of benefits that you may enjoy if you register your land with the department of Land Registry. The registration of the land proves the ownership of the land, helps to protect your land if someone tries to make a claim on it. Land Registry also simplifies conveyancing, making future changes in ownership easier.
If you decide to register your land voluntarily for the first time with Land Registry, you could receive a discount of up to 25% on the registration fee. The discount varies according to the size of the property. The cost ranges from £40 for property worth up to £50,000 to £690 for land worth over £1 million.
Inheritance Tax is the tax that is paid on your ‘estate’. In order to understand this term in general, it can be said that this is everything you own at the time of your death, less what you owe. It is also sometimes payable on assets you may have given away during your lifetime. Assets include things like property, possessions, money and investments.
However, it is not that everyone in UK pays inheritance tax on death. It only applies if the taxable value of your estate, including your share of any jointly owned assets and assets held in some types of trusts, when you die is above £325,000 (2009-10 tax year). Inheritance tax is only payable on the excess above this nil rate band.
In most cases, Inheritance Tax must be paid within six months from the end of the month in which the death occurs, otherwise interest is charged on the amount owing.
Inheritance Tax on some assets, including land and buildings, can be deferred and paid in installments over 10 years. If you have been nominated as someone’s personal representative for Inheritance tax, you have to value all of the assets that the deceased person owned. This valuation must accurately reflect what the assets would reasonably fetch in the open market at the date of death and how much Inheritance Tax would need to be paid.
It is important that you evaluate the estate first to find out if Inheritance Tax is due or not. This means adding up the value of all the assets in the estate – such as a house, possessions, money and investments – and deducting any debts the deceased may have owed, including household bills and funeral expenses.
An estate also includes the deceased’s share of any jointly owned assets and the value of any assets held in trust.
The evaluation should also include any gifts that the deceased may have made in their lifetime to see if they are exempt, and if they are not exempt, they need to be included them in the overall value of the estate, want other information like property solicitors.
Author Bio:
John Smit is Marketing Manager and share more information about conveyancing quote, debt collection, Transfer of Equity, Bank Charges, home information packs, Abbey National mortgages for more information visit at: http://www.easylawyers.co.uk/
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