Types of Share
Please see below for information about each type of share and examples of their use. Please remember that all parties DO NOT have to select the same type of share
Monetary
Select this option if the party in question would like a set amount returned to them in the event that the property is sold. Their share in the property will consist of this fixed amount. If you would prefer this share to grow in line with any rise in property price then please state this in the remarks section.
Example:
Andy and Bernadine purchased a property for £250,000 in their joint names. Andy’s mother Carol contributed £50,000 towards the purchase price. Carol wants to protect her investment in case the relationship between Andy and Bernadine breaks down. She is not interested in making a return on the money she contributed.
In the event of the property being sold the first £50,000 of any proceeds of sale (after the redemption of any mortgage and payment of associated sale costs) would be owed solely to Carol. Anything remaining thereafter would be owed to Andy and Bernadine in equal shares (or differing shares if they so wished of course!)
In this scenario Carol’s share is a monetary one.
PLEASE NOTE: Each party is permitted to have a different type of share
Percentage
This is one of the most common types of share, very simply put the party in question would be entitled to a percentage of any sale proceeds after the redemption of any mortgage and payment of associated sale costs.
Example:
Fred and Gina are purchasing their first home together, unfortunately due to Gina’s lack of credit history she has been unable to join the mortgage application with Fred and so Fred will be the sole legal owner of the property as well as the only party to the mortgage. Fred and Gina are making equal contributions towards the purchase of the property and Gina would like to protect her investment as she will not be party to the mortgage or be on the title deeds.
In this scenario Fred and Gina can select percentage shares of 50% each. In practical terms this would mean that when the property is sold Fred and Gina would be equally entitled to any proceeds of sale after the redemption of any mortgage and payment of associated sale costs.
PLEASE NOTE: Each party is permitted to have a different type of share
Monetary and Percentage
Select this option where the party concerned would like a fixed amount returned to them in the event of a sale as well as a percentage of anything remaining thereafter.
Example:
Derek and Elizabeth are purchasing a property together for £125,000. Derek is contributing the sum of £20,000 towards the deposit and Elizabeth is contributing £5,000, the remainder of the purchase price is being provided with the aid of a mortgage that both Derek and Elizabeth are entering into. They both wish to find a fair way in which to hold the property.
One method is to use a combination of monetary and percentage shares in the property:
Derek’s monetary share would be £20,000 and Elizabeth’s £5,000. Their percentage share of anything remaining is 50% each.
In practical terms this would mean that in the event of a sale, any sale proceeds (and after the redemption of any mortgage and payment of associated sale costs) would be divided on the basis that the first £20,000 would be owed solely to Derek and the following £5,000 would be owed solely to Elizabeth (we can also express this differently to level the priority between parties, e.g. of the first £25,000 Derek would be entitled to 80% and Elizabeth 20%, this would cover the situation where the sale proceeds were less than £25,000). Anything remaining after the above would be divided between Derek and Elizabeth in accordance with their percentages, i.e. 50% each.
PLEASE NOTE: Each party is permitted to have a different type of share
All / Remainder of Beneficial Interest
This type of share is self explanatory and is quite often used in combination with the No Beneficial Interest type of share mentioned below. It can also be used with any other type of share to indicate that the party in question will be the owner of all of the beneficial interest AFTER the shares of the other party’s have been dealt with.
Example:
Henry and Ingrid have owned their flat together for the last 5 years, they have recently split up. Henry has agreed to relinquish his share in the property in consideration of £10,000. Unfortunately Ingrid has been unable to obtain mortgage finance in her sole name so they have decided to proceed by way of a deed of trust.
Ingrid’s share in this case will be All / Remainder of Beneficial Interest.
No Beneficial Interest
As mentioned above this type of share is most commonly used in combination with the All / Remainder of Beneficial Interest option.
Example:
Continuing the example from above Henry’s share will be No Beneficial Interest as he will be surrendering his share in the property in return for £10,000 as well as other assurances provided in the deed, these include a covenant by Ingrid to indemnify Henry against any action in respect of the use of the property by her as well as payment of the mortgage repayments.
The indemnities from Ingrid will provide Henry with some comfort as he will have a course of action in the event Ingrid failed to keep up mortgage payments for example.
PLEASE NOTE: When the above 2 types of share are used together they usually have an approximate date recorded to indicate a timeframe within which the owner of the beneficial share will endeavour to change the legal title to the property to remove the party with no beneficial interest.
Mortgage/Equity Split
This type of share is used when the mortgage and equity elements of the property are required to be treated independently and each party’s share in both of the mortgage and equity elements defined separately.
Example:
Julie and Kirsty Purchased a property together last year for £400,000. They took out a mortgage for £300,000 and Julie contributed £70,000 towards the deposit with Kirsty providing the remaining £30,000. The costs of purchasing the property including stamp duty and land registry costs were shared equally.
Based on the figures above the mortgage/equity split is 75% mortgage / 25% equity. They both agreed to contribute to the mortgage repayments equally meaning their respective shares of the mortgage element are 50% each. However due to the differing amounts contributed towards the deposit the equity element is divided between them with 70% owned by Julie and 30% by Kirsty.
Property sold in 7 years time for £608,000.00
LESS
Agents Fees and associated sale costs: £8,000.00
£600,000 divided in accordance with the mortgage/equity split:
Mortgage Portion (75%): £450,000
Equity Portion (25%): £150,000
Mortgage redeemed from the Mortgage Portion:
MORTGAGE PORTION: £450,000
LESS
Mortgage outstanding on property: £200,000.00
Leaving £250,000 in the mortgage portion which is to be divided equally between Julie and Kirsty in line with their respective shares of the mortgage element (50% each = £125,000 each)
Equity Portion to be divided between Julie and Kirsty in accordance with agreed shares:
EQUITY PORTION: £150,000
Julie’s share (70%): £105,000
Kirsty share (30%): £45,000
TOTAL DUE TO Julie and Kirsty:
Julie:
Amount left in mortgage portion divided equally: £125,000
Equity Portion: £105,000
TOTAL for Julie: £230,000
Kirsty:
Amount left in mortgage portion divided equally: £125,000
Equity Portion: £45,000
TOTAL for Kirsty: £170,000
PLEASE NOTE: All parties must select this type of share as it cannot be combined with any other type of share.
Commensurate
This type of share can be used when each party will be (or has been) contributing differing amounts to not only the initial purchase price but to any mortgage going forwards.
Sophie and Tom are purchasing their first property together and will be contributing unequal amounts towards the property purchase price, with Sophie contributing £90,000 and Tom £10,000. They will be paying for all of the associated costs of purchase, including Stamp Duty Land Tax, in equal shares of £5,000 each.
As Sophie is not working (and Tom has a well paying job) she will not be contributing as much to the mortgage as Tom going forwards.
Sophie would like the fact that she is contributing more towards the purchase price recorded in the deed and reflect any return she makes when the property is sold. Likewise, Tom would like the fact that he will be contributing more towards the mortgage to be reflected in the deed ensuring that his return is appropriately increased.
This kind of situation is becoming more and more common and a standard deed will not usually be able to do justice to Sophie and Tom’s requirements. The issue is that there is no fixed percentage which is going to be declared in the deed to reflect each party’s share. Rather, the deed will contain a formula to use when calculating each party’s share.
This formula will take into consideration the contributions made by both Sophie and Tom to not only the initial purchase price and costs, but also contributions towards reducing the capital mortgage debt (be this through normal monthly mortgage repayments or lump sum capital payments) and also any agreed improvements or renovations to the property.
This method allows the share of each party to be dynamic and at any given point in time it will reflect the total contributions made by each party to the property, and therefore will accurately reflect their respective shares.
The example below shows the practical effect of Sophie and Tom’s situation:
Example:
Property purchased in 2014 for: £310,000
Mortgage of: £210,000
Property sold in 2018 for: £440,000
Remaining Mortgage: £110,000
Estate Agent Fees: £10,000
Balance to be split: £320,000
Over the course of ownership of the property, it was established that Tom redeemed £75,000 of the capital mortgage debt and Sophie £25,000. They also improved the property and contributed to the improvements in unequal shares: Sophie contributed £5,000 and Tom £25,000.
Using the figures and timings above Sophie and Tom’s respective shares of the balance of £320,000 would be calculated in the following way:
Contributions towards:
Purchase Price: Sophie: £90,000 | Tom: £10,000
purchase costs: Sophie: £5,000 | Tom: £5,000
mortgage debt: Sophie: £25,000 | Tom: £75,000
improvements: Sophie: £5,000 | Tom: £25,000
Total Contributions: Sophie: £125,000| Tom: £115,000
(£240,000 contributed in total by both)
Expressed as percentages: Sophie: £125,000/£240,000 = 52.08%
Tom: £115,000/£240,000 = 47.92%
Therefore the balance would be split thus:
Sophie (52.08% of £320.000) = £166,656
Tom (47.92% of £320.000) = £153,344
As you can see from the above illustration, Tom has managed to increase his share through the larger contributions he made to repayment of the mortgage debt and also to improvements to the property.
PLEASE NOTE: All parties must select this type of share as it cannot be combined with any other type of share.