How to put your home into a trust in England and Wales
You put a home into a trust in one of two ways: through your will, so your share passes to trustees when you die, or in your lifetime, by transferring the legal title to trustees with a TR1 form at HM Land Registry. The will route suits most couples.
The short answer
- There are two routes: a trust in your will (nothing is transferred now) or a lifetime trust (the title moves to trustees today).
- A lifetime transfer needs the title register, written consent from any mortgage lender, a trust deed, a TR1 transfer to HM Land Registry and usually registration with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service.
- Putting assets worth more than the £325,000 nil-rate band into most lifetime trusts can trigger an immediate 20% inheritance tax charge on the excess.
- If you keep living in the house rent-free, it is likely to stay in your estate for inheritance tax as a gift with reservation.
- For the will route, couples sever the joint tenancy and each leaves their share to trustees, with a life interest for the survivor.
What's on this page
“Put the house in a trust” is said as if it were a setting in online banking. It is a transfer of the legal title, a deed that sets the rules, and a tax position you have to be willing to live with. Done in the will, it is simpler. Done in your lifetime, it is a conveyancing job.
This is the sequence, and the points where average families get stuck.
First decide which trust you mean#
There are two different transactions.
A trust in the will. You do not transfer the house now. You change the way you own it if you are joint tenants, and each will leaves that share to trustees on death. Nothing happens at the Land Registry until the first death, apart from a restriction if you have severed the joint tenancy. This is the route that suits most couples. See property protection trusts.
A lifetime trust. You transfer the house, or a share, to trustees now. They become the legal owners. You might be one of them. This is the route the short videos demonstrate with a pen. It has a use. It is not the default.
Write down the reason before you pick. “Stop my children being disinherited if my partner remarries” is a will-trust job. “I want the house managed for my children while I am still here, and I accept I may not save inheritance tax” can be a lifetime-trust job. “So the council can never use the house for care fees” is not a reason that survives contact with the Care Act if care is already foreseeable.
How to transfer a house into a lifetime trust, step by step#
- Check the title. Download the register from HM Land Registry. Note the owners, the price paid, and the mortgage lender. If you are joint tenants and only one of you is transferring a share, sever the tenancy first.
- Ask the lender in writing. A mortgaged house cannot be transferred behind the lender’s back. Some consent to a transfer to a trust. Some refuse. Some require a new mortgage in the trustees’ names, which you may not get. If they refuse, stop. A will trust does not need their consent in the same way, because you are not transferring now.
- Have the deed drafted. The trust deed names the trustees, the beneficiaries, who can live in the house, whether the trustees can sell and buy a replacement, and what happens if you need care or a beneficiary divorces. A template that does not mention your lender, your children, or the right to occupy is not a plan.
- Sign a transfer (TR1) and send it to HM Land Registry. Trustees are registered as the proprietors. A restriction is often added so the house cannot be sold without regard to the trust. There is a Land Registry fee. There may be stamp duty land tax if any mortgage debt is treated as consideration, or if someone who is not a beneficiary is taking a share. This is a question for the solicitor, not a forum.
- Tell the insurer. Buildings insurance must be in the names of the people with an interest. A claim in the wrong name is a bad week.
- Accept the tax file. If you still live there rent-free, say so in the advice letter. Inheritance tax reservation-of-benefit rules are likely to keep the house in your estate. Capital gains tax private residence relief can continue if it remains your home, but the detail depends on who the trustees and beneficiaries are. Trustees may need to register the trust with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service.
How to put your home into a trust through your will#
This is shorter.
- Sever the joint tenancy if you want each share dealt with separately. Your conveyancer or will writer lodges a restriction.
- Each of you signs a will leaving your share to trustees, with a life interest for the survivor.
- Store the wills where the executors can find them. Review them if you move house; the trust can usually cover the replacement home if it is drafted that way.
On the first death, the executors and trustees deal with that share. The survivor does not inherit it outright. That is the mechanism, not a second secret ownership.
A worked cost, not a promise#
Colin, 70, widowed, owns a mortgage-free house in Gloucester worth £390,000. He wants his two children to have it, and he wants to stay. A solicitor prices a lifetime trust and a transfer. Colin is healthy, with no care assessment in sight, so deprivation is not the first risk. He still lives there, so the house is unlikely to leave his inheritance tax estate. His estate, with £70,000 of savings, is under a nil-rate band plus residence nil-rate band (£325,000 plus £175,000). He may pay for a trust that saves no tax.
The solicitor’s better question: does Colin need trustees in charge while he is alive, or a will that already names them for the day he is not? If the worry is a future second marriage, a will trust is enough. If the worry is that he will not cope with a sale at 85, a lifetime trust with a right to live there can be worth the fee. Those are different products.
After it is done#
Review trustees every few years. A trust that names a brother who has since died is an administration problem, not a protection. Do not treat the house as yours to remortgage personally once the trustees own it. And do not describe the arrangement to a local authority, or to HMRC, in different words from the deed.
If you want an illustration of allowances before you book anyone, use the trust savings calculator. Then read care fees so the means test is not a surprise.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I put my house in a trust in the UK?
Either leave your share to trustees in your will, or transfer the legal title to trustees now. A lifetime transfer means checking the title, getting your lender’s written consent, having a trust deed drafted, and sending a TR1 transfer to HM Land Registry. A solicitor should confirm the inheritance tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty position first.
Can I put my house in a trust if I have a mortgage?
Only with the lender’s written consent for a lifetime transfer. Some lenders agree, some refuse, and some require a new mortgage in the trustees’ names. A trust in your will does not need consent in the same way, because nothing is transferred while you are alive.
Is there inheritance tax when you put a house into a trust?
There can be. A lifetime transfer into most trusts is immediately chargeable: value above your available £325,000 nil-rate band is taxed at 20%, and the trust can face charges of up to 6% every ten years. If you carry on living there rent-free, the house is also likely to remain in your estate. Leaving your share to a trust in your will avoids the lifetime charge.
Does putting your house in a trust avoid care fees?
Not reliably. If a local authority decides the transfer was made to avoid care fees, it can assess you as if you still owned the house under the deprivation of assets rules. A will trust set up by a couple while both are well ring-fences the first partner’s share, and is not a deprivation by the survivor. See care fees explained.
Do I need to register a trust that holds my house?
Usually, yes. Most express trusts must be registered with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service by the trustees, even if no tax is due.
This is general information, not legal advice. Everyone's situation is different — speak to a qualified adviser before acting. KeepTheLot is an independent information service covering England & Wales. We are not a law firm.
Part of our guide to trusts.