...When I purchased my IP, I did categorically instructed my solicitor that I wanted 95% to 5% owenership between myself and wife. ... But my sales contract do not specify that. ...
Hello Mohan
When you bought the property you would have instructed the
Estate Agent as to the identity of the purchasers
It seems that you have told the Agent that the buyers are Mohan Wei and Mrs Wei.
All well and good. That is about all that a Contract of Sale can show.
The details of the matter, as
Bradsdad has pointed out, are specified in the
Transfer of Land.
You can check that your
Solicitor has drawn up the Transfer according to your instructions by looking at the copy prepared by them and signed by you.
If the Transfer was not prepared correctly, you would not have signed it.
If, for some reason, you signed the Transfer without checking spelling, details of ownership, etc, and if the purchase has now settled, you can do an on line
Title Search at
[email protected] or as provided by
propertunity
However, keep in mind that property investing is a long term investment, and can take many different actions over the life of the property
You are wanting the proprietorship of the property to reflect the current tax situation, but this can change with the Government or eg you could give up work and Mrs Wei could become the breadwinner, which would make the 95%/5% ownership counter productive.
You may sell the property for a profit, which would mean that you would pay more tax on the capital gain than if the proprietorship was as Joint Tenants with a deemed benefit of 50% each
Or the rent income may increase quicker than anticipated resulting in the tax benefits disappearing and you paying tax on the positive cash flow
Investing is not about 'tax benefits'. These can evaporative like the dew on the grass in the morning light.
Property investing is about a lot more than 'negative gearing' or 'depreciation' or 'negative gearing for a positive cash flow' or whatever.
Remember: If you have bought as Tenants in Common with agreed shares of the property, there is no automatic Rights of Survivorship so make sure that both you and Mrs Wei have current Wills and also that you each have Life Insurance to cover your share of the liability
Joint Tenancy is a much simpler arrangement but each purchaser makes their own decisions. Once you have embarked on the Tenants in Common road make sure you understand and act on all the matters which then need to be addressed.
Of course, you sought professional advice prior to making the purchase of the property and your
Accountant would have discussed the tax situation with you both and your
Solicitor would have discussed Estate Planning with you when you consulted with them.
Hope this helps
Kristine
