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Can my brother sell me our joint property below market value?

Question:
Can my brother sell me our joint property below market value?
My brother and I bought a property jointly but the deeds are registered solely in his name. Neither of us have used the property as a main residence. The property was rented over the period and all rents were declared. The purchase price for this property was £50,000 and the current market value is £150,000. Can my brother now sell this property to me below the market value (e.g.£100,000) to reduce the CGT on the sale? 

Arthur Weller Replies: 

It is not clear to me whether you have always had beneficial ownership over half the property, since the date of acquisition, or not 

i.e. did the contribution of half the purchase price make you an owner of half the beneficial ownership of the house,even though your brother was the legal owner, or was the contribution of half the purchase price by you simply a loan by you to your brother? An important factor in deciding this question is in whose name was the rental income declared to the Revenue. If it was declared only in your brother's name, this shows that your brother had beneficial ownership over the whole property (see Revenue Capital Gains Manual page CG70230.) If you have always had beneficial ownership over half the property, then the proposed sale from your brother to
you can only be for his half of the property, because you already own your half. Any sale between connected persons (and brothers are called connected persons) is treated for capital gains tax purposes, as a sale at present market value, regardless of the actual payment the buyer makes to the seller. So in your case, even if you pay your brother £100,000, and no more, the Revenue will treat your brother as though he received £150,000 (the current market value) from you, for capital gains tax purposes, and tax him
accordingly.
Can my brother sell me our joint property below market value?
My brother and I bought a property jointly but the deeds are registered solely in his name. Neither of us have used the property as a main residence.
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This question was first printed in Property Tax Insider in December 2009.