All About Trust Deeds – A Guide
A trust deed or a deed of trust is known as an Express or Bare trust. It is a declaration of trust which indicates the intentions and interests of each of the joint owners of a particular property. The specifics of the deed will be dependent of the relationship between the property’s joint or co-owners. If there isn’t a protected trust deed, then these owners would be dependent on trust law to obtain the enforcement for their property rights. This can be a constructive or resulting trust.
It is only possible to use a deed of trust in order to separate all of the property shares if the property is held as tenants in common. On the other hand, if it is held as joint tenants, then this joint tenancy can be ended and then a tenants in common trust can be potentially drafted. Deeds are typically used to protect the money in a property so that the involved persons can retrieve the money that they invested.
Do note that deeds can have many clauses that would indicate how the various owners of the property would want to be utilized, specifics of buying and selling ownership, how interest would be split among co-owners if the property is used to generate income, maintenance etc.
In the purchase process, a deed is typically created. However, it can be drafted after the property has been bought once consent is given by all of the co-owners. You should practice caution if you want to go the DIY deed route using an online option since these usually don’t have a solicitors legal advice. Get professional advice from Carringtondean.com.
In this article, we will pay close attention to home buyers basic deed of trust where they want a fixed beneficial share. We will also provide links to other deed types as well as a FAQ section.
Basic Deed Defined
Basic deeds are affordable deeds and they indicate a property’s fixed beneficial to share. This means that each of the joint owners will know the amount of money that they will receive once the property has been sold. This fixed beneficial interest can be in the form of:
Percentages: To put this into perspective, we will use an example where Chris owns 40% and Christina owns 60% of beneficial interest.
Deposit: In this example, both Chris and Christina will be given back the deposit that they invested into the property to purchase it. If there are any gains or losses, these will be split between them equally.
Basic deeds are good for long term relationships where the joint owners want to sell the property as it indicates the separate shares and what should be done after the property has been sold. This type of deed doesn’t have clauses that would be relevant for short term relationships where the relationship may potentially end or change. The basic deed can be easily enforced by the law and it also takes precedence over any other claim that is made in the future for beneficial interest increases.
Included Clauses
Whatever deposit that you personally contribute would be clearly indicated and this would be separate from the deposit contributions of the additional joint owners. You will also agree to beneficial interest percentage when it comes to losses or gains. Do note that this percentage is fixed and it doesn’t take into consideration any money you may have used while jointly owning the property such as maintenance, repairs, mortgage payments etc.
The legal and non-legal owners would also be listed.
Rental income calculations which includes details for losses or gains.
How to purchase the shares of other co-owners.
Unregistered beneficial owner details. This could be where parents buy a property with their kids.
The contributions of each person to the expenses of the property.
Simplification of terms used.
Clauses That Won’t Be Included
How to protect other joint owners if one stops paying their part of the mortgage.
Formula that shows the different contributions for renovations or mortgage payments.
The procedure on how to sell individual owner shares.
How to go about property repair or dealing with the cost of renovation.
Calculations for gain due to property development.
Information for sub-letting
What to do if the relationship between co-owners ends or breaks down in any way.
What should be done if a co-owner can’t afford to pay their share of the mortgage.
Agreements on cohabitation such as living arrangements, bill splitting etc.
List which shows the possessions of each of the joint owners.
