Changing from Joint Tenants to Tenants in Common: A Guide

You can change your property ownership from joint tenants to tenants in common at any time, with or without mutual consent. By using Land Registry Form SEV to finalise a severance of joint tenancy, you can protect your share of the property and ensure your enquiries regarding inheritance or tax are legally addressed.

Where the joint owners agree, the process is fast to complete. Our standard turnaround time from receiving your instruction to drafting a deed and submitting the Form SEV to the Land Registry is 5 working days(i). It can take the Land Registry up to 6 weeks or more to update the title deeds and apply the Form A restriction, which confirms you hold the property as tenants in common.

Why switch from Joint Tenants to Tenants in Common?

As tenants in common, you can hold your shares separately, and unequally (or equally). This allows you to dispose of your share as you like (subject to mortgage conditions) and to bequeath it in your will however you choose. It can also facilitate a more efficient tax strategy.

• 1

  Rental Tax Planning

  Joint tenants share income from the property equally, so if they own a buy-to-let, the net taxable rental income is declared equally on their tax return. As tenants in common, they can have unequal shares to facilitate tax structuring.
  
  For example, if Spouse A is in a higher income tax bracket, they can maintain being named as a legal owner on the property, but give their beneficial share of the income to Spouse B. So, B owns 100%, and A owns 0%, paying income tax on 100% of the rental income at Spouse B's lower rate.
  
  It is important to note, though, that even as tenants in common, HMRC will assume the beneficial interest is shared equally between the legal owners unless there is a Deed of Trust and HMRC tax declaration confirming otherwise.

• 2

  Inheritance Tax Planning

  The surviving joint tenant(s) own 100% of the property if one joint tenant dies, without paying capital gains or inheritance tax. As tenants in common, you can bequeath your share to a third party. This may align with future tax planning and should be completed alongside drafting a will.
  
  It is for this reason that most married couples choose to be joint tenants of their residential home: if one of them dies, the surviving spouse retains the home.

• 3

  Separation/Property Dispute

  Joint tenants who break up may seek to convert to tenants in common to better reflect their respective beneficial interests in the property. This can be a very litigious process, and legal advice should be sought before severing the joint tenancy, especially if the severance is without mutual consent.

Change to Tenants in Common Today

• Whether for tax planning or divorce/separation.
• Deeds drafted within 2 working days(1).
• Applications made digitally to the Land Registry within 5 working days(2).
• Fixed Fee of £559 INC VAT for a deed and a severance, or £260 INC VAT for just the severance.

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The process for severing a joint tenancy differs depending on whether the owners mutually agree to the severance or don't.

Severance of Joint Tenancy by Mutual Agreement

The most common process for a husband and wife looking to mutually end the joint tenancy, and then share unequal shares in a property for tax planning (rental income, capital gains tax or IHT).

• 1

  Complete Form SEV

  The SEV form is downloadable from the Government website, and should be completed as follows:

• Box 1 - Local authority. State the Local Authority to the property (where you pay council tax).
• Box 2 - Title number(s) of the property. Found on your deeds, or you can download an office copy.
• Box 3 - Property. The property address and any associated land under one title, such as a garage.
• Box 4 - Application and fee. Leave this section empty, as no fee is currently payable for entering a Form A restriction.
• Box 5 - The applicant(s). Provide the full name(s) of the person(s) applying to enter the restriction. Where a conveyancer lodges the application, this must be the name(s) of the client(s), not the conveyancer's.
• Box 6 - Address of the Land Registry. Include the address of the Land Registry. HM Land Registry, Citizen Centre.
• Box 7 - Evidence of severance. This is the key difference: if you both mutually agree, you tick box A, which states "All registered proprietors of the title number referred to in panel 2 are applying (no further evidence required)".
• Box 8 - Application. The application to change from joint tenants to tenants requires the following restriction to be applied to the Land Registry Title. This is what a Form A Restriction looks like: "No disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate (except a trust corporation) under which capital money arises is to be registered unless authorised by an order of the court".
• Box 9 - Signature. All applicants must sign this section, or, if your conveyancer is handling the application for you, they will sign here.

• 2

  Draft a Deed of Trust

  As the ownership rights change when you move from joint tenants to tenants in common, you should have a deed drafted to confirm what your beneficial interest is in the property. For example, if you no longer own it 100% together, how much does each joint owner own separately? This is mandatory for married couples who share rental income from a buy-to-let property in unequal shares.
  
  A deed can also include other provisions, such as how to sell the property or who pays which bills. The details always depend on the circumstances of the joint owners. What you don't want, though, is not having anything documented, and one joint owner forces a sale whilst the other tries to stop it.

• 3

  Send Form to Land Registry

  You either submit the form yourself, or your solicitor will do so on your behalf.

Severing Joint Tenancy Without Consent

This commonly occurs when the joint owners are either in a dispute or, less commonly, when one of the owners has gone missing. The boxes are completed the same as above; however, the following differ, depending on whether you wrote a notice of severance or didn't.

Box 7 - B - Application is not by all the registered proprietors

This is where not all of the proprietors/legal owners have signed the Form SEV, but they have signed a letter confirming they are happy for the ownership to transfer to tenants in common. It offers a flexible approach to severing the tenancy if someone lives overseas and isn't able to sign the original form, provided they can provide evidence of their consent in a letter.

If you are filing the application on your own, you'll tick "The original or a certified copy of the document is enclosed (letter of severance) or if you are using a conveyancer to sever the tenancy, they'll tick "the conveyancer certifies they hold the original or a certified copy of the severance document".

Box 7 - C - Application is not by all the registered proprietors

This is the only way to change to tenants in common if not all the owners agree. You need to draft a Notice of Severance, and this is signed by the agreeing owners.

How you deliver this, serve it, to the owner who isn't agreeing to the severance is crucial. If you're doing it yourself, you'll need evidence that you served the Notice of Severance on the owner and a signed confirmation that they received it. This can be done using the Royal Mail Special Delivery service, as this is a signed-for service.

If the owner doesn't sign to confirm they have received the notice of severance, then you have only one other option which is to evidence you have left the notice of severance at the owner's last known place of abode or business in the UK, or, sent by registered post or recorded delivery service to them at their last known place of abode or business and the notice was not returned undelivered.

Depending on what route you have followed, you'll tick one of the following:

• The original or certified copy of the notice of severance and a signed acknowledgement of receipt by the other registered proprietors is enclosed.
• The original or certified copy of the notice of severance and my certificate is enclosed, confirming that the notice was given to the other registered proprietor(s), left at their last known place of abode or business in the UK or sent by registered post or recorded delivery service to them at their last known place of abode or business and not returned undelivered.
• I am the applicant’s conveyancer, and I certify that I hold the original [or certified copy of] notice of severance with an acknowledgement of receipt signed by the other registered proprietors.
• I am the applicant’s conveyancer, and I certify that I hold the original [or certified copy of] notice of severance and that it was served on the other registered proprietors in accordance with sections 36(2) and 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925.

What happens after the Land Registry application is finalised?

The Land Registry will review the application and all of the supporting documents. If they are satisfied with what you have provided, they will apply a Form A restriction to the legal title, dated at the time of the application.

How long to apply the Form A Restriction?

According to recent 2026 data from the Land Registry, the timeframe for applying a Form A restriction varies by urgency and application type: standard, non-urgent applications typically take 3 weeks to over a month, while expedited applications are processed within 10 working days.

• Standard Applications: While many routine updates are processed in about 3 weeks, some can take up to a month if the application is not urgent.
• Expedited Applications: If the restriction is part of a pending sale, refinance, or another urgent transaction, you can request expedited service at no cost. Once approved, the Land Registry aims to process these within 10 working days.

When is the notice legally severed?

Even though there is a "registration gap" between when you apply and when the Land Registry updates your title, the restriction is legally protected from the moment the application is received by the Land Registry, even if processing takes longer.