Paphos Life

We are thinking of the future and our mortality (hope it's a long way off) and have been sorting out our affairs in the UK. One thing we did do was to transfer a property into our children's names. We went down to UK Land Registry and did it ourselves at minimal cost.

Now what about Cyprus! We are also seriously considering transferring the ownership of our Cyprus property into our children's names. We wonder has anyone else done this over here and can they give us some pointers. When we last saw a solicitor in Cyprus, on an unconnected matter, we mentioned this but she was a bit vague and she quoted fees of around €3,000 which shocked us a bit. Is it simply a case of filling in some forms down at the Cyprus Land Registry and can we do this ourself or is it too fraught? Or can anyone recommend an alternative solicitor....who is good but cheaper! Any advice would be gratefully received.

Is your Cyprus property in Joint names, or 50/50 Tenants in Common? And do you have the Title Deeds? Have you both made a Will in Cyprus?

Cheers- AL

Can you send me the info too HiC? I am adding a services section to the directory, and it will have a legal section. Charis sounds ideal.

A few years ago we did this with some land for about €200 to him plus Land Registry fees. Used someone we knew. I believe that there are people outside the land registry building who undertake this work. A solicitor is not necessary.

I would be interested in how you get on because we want to do this with our house as well now.

Grateful if you would PM me Charis' number too Lloyd...

Just make sure that if you live in the UK or think there may be a possibility of ever returning there you familiarise yourself with the rules concerning deprivation of capital should you ever need to claim any sort of benefits. Things have changed too much since I worked for DWP for me to be able to offer any meaningful advice other than be careful.

It's a very nominal fee for this. If you are both able to attend in person - do it yourself using one of the onsite agents at the land registry.

Jeanne

Our family did this and there was a lot of documentation needed. So we let Gwenny's Red Tape do all that and attended to the Land registry when it was time to sign the application..

Hi All,
Interesting read as I have enquired regarding doing this.
My accountant spoke to A family member who is ex HMRC and now shall we say a "Tax Specialist " mmmmmm.

And I was told the following ;

As I am a U.K. Resident any property,investments and money I have in another country is counted as World Wide assets and these are liable to be included in a U.K. Tax assessment regarding our assets upon our deaths.
Regarding our U.K. property being transferred to our children this would come under the 7 year period for transferring a property and we if we did this would hope to live for the 7 years to take the property out of our estate.
But this has opened another problem for us in that if we give/transfer our U.K. Property to our children but carry on living in it (For a peppercorn rate I hoped) this would be subject to an HMRC rental valuation in present market conditions.
Now given the market at present this would add another £25k plus to our income.

I asked the question that if I lived permanently in Cyprus if this would benefit us regarding our tax position and was told that basically any property or investments that are still live in the U.K. Prior to moving (If it happened) would be subject to U.K. tax laws.

With our property in Cyprus we have a Cypriot will------ but let's say if it was sold would we want the sale proceeds left in Cyprus-no we wouldn't so as soon as those funds are transferred,mmmmmmmmmmm more funds go to HMRC.

Other people will have a different outlook and answers to the above but I thought I would just put my situation at present in the limelight.

Many thanks for that Harvey,

Where did you (If don't mind me asking) where the reserve trustee info came from ?

Martee

Harvey, we are in the process right now with our Cyprus property of doing what you describe. A gift/donation to children, with protections. We are using a Cyprus Lawyer and the fees quoted are way below what you mention. As for the benefit, we see that not as UK HMRC related, but driven by the avoidance of potentially lengthy and expensive future Cyprus probate process. OylerO

The problem with having Cyprus property and a Cyprus will is that Cypriot inheritance laws are somewhat different to those of the UK. For example, if the property is owned in joint names by husband and wife, in the UK, the half ownership can be willed to the spouse, ignoring the children (if any) and any other relatives. As I understand it, under Cypriot inheritance laws, the children CANNOT be willed out of the property and indeed, if one half of the ownership dies intestate (without a will), then not only children can benefit but also siblings, potentially leaving the bereaved spouse without a home if the new owners wish to sell their share and the bereaved spouse does not have the funds to purchase their share.

Under the (relatively) new Cyprus inheritance laws, you, as a non-Cypriot, can opt to have your Cypriot will dealt with under the inheritance laws of your country of origin - however, this must be specified in your will, and in the case of UK inheritance laws, may open your estate/beneficiaries to a rather hefty tax bill.

I understand that it is currently possible to transfer ownership of Cyprus property to direct-line relatives (i.e. spouse, children, parents or siblings but not cousins, uncles, aunts etc) with no liability to government transfer tax.

PW in Polemi wrote: ↑Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:53 pm Under the (relatively) new Cyprus inheritance laws, you, as a non-Cypriot, can opt to have your Cypriot will dealt with under the inheritance laws of your country of origin - however, this must be specified in your will, and in the case of UK inheritance laws, may open your estate/beneficiaries to a rather hefty tax bill.

My understanding is that UK IHT is based upon Domicile irrespective of worldwide location and whether or not you have a clause in your Cypriot will.

If you haven't changed your UK Domicile status to some other country, which in itself is very difficult to do, you are liable to HMRC investigating the deceased estate but the value of the estate may determine whether HMRC takes an interest.

Doesn't inheritance tax kick in only for estates over 600,000 ?

£650,000

Thanks for that correction.