A deed of surrender may be appropriate when people are, or intend on, cohabiting at a property owned by one of them AND the owner wishes to ensure that the cohabiting party (‘the Cohabitant’) does not acquire any interest in the property.
A trust of land can usually be inferred by virtue of contributions made by the Cohabitant towards mortgage repayments, improvements to the property or payment of outgoings related to the property. In these circumstances a Cohabitant may establish ownership of a beneficial share. In order to do so the Cohabitant must show that the parties had a common intention that both should have a beneficial interest in the property acquired, and that the Cohabitant has acted to his or her detriment on the basis of that common intention, there is relevant case law covering this situation, see Grant v Edwards [1986].
A deed of surrender expresses the agreement between the parties that the beneficial interest is owned exclusively by one party. The deed will also effectively prevent the inference of any common intention that the beneficial ownership should be shared. This may be appropriate where a person is moving into their partner’s property and will be making a contribution towards outgoings but both parties agree that this shall not entitle them to a beneficial share of the property.
If you have any queries about whether a deed of surrender is relevant to your circumstances please contact us and we will be happy to assist. When completing the application please ensure all details are complete in order to avoid any delay in preparing your agreement, please also let us know of any specific requirements you may have in the comments section at the end of the form.
Please complete as much information as possible (if there is anything you are unsure of or don’t know please leave blank and we will contact you whilst drafting your deed), please also let us know of any specific requirements you may have in the comments section at the end of the form.
We offer a fixed fee service meaning all of our deeds are charged at the rate of £150 plus disbursements with no nasty surprises later on!