How to Add or Remove Someone From Your Property Title in BC

People change who is on title for many reasons: a marriage, an inheritance plan, helping a child, or a separation. The change is made by a transfer at the Land Title Office, but the transfer can trigger tax and can affect other people's rights.

This article walks through the main things to check before you add or remove someone. Details such as your mortgage terms and the current forms depend on your facts, so a lawyer should confirm them.

This article covers the law of British Columbia.

Start with how title is held now

Who can transfer what depends on how you hold title. Registered owners may make a direct transfer to one or more of their number, alone or jointly with another. A joint tenant may also transfer their interest to themselves, which severs the joint tenancy and turns that share into a tenancy in common.

When you add someone, the new transfer should state whether they will hold as joint tenants or as tenants in common. If nothing is said, people receiving land together are tenants in common with equal interests.

Mortgage lender consent

Whether your lender must agree to a change in title depends on the terms of your mortgage contract. Many lenders want to approve a new owner, and some will want to reassess the loan, especially when someone is being removed. Ask your lender in writing before you register anything.

Also remember that a mortgage by one joint tenant of their own interest requires severance, done by transferring the mortgagor's interest to themselves before the mortgage is registered.

Property transfer tax when family is involved

The principal residence exemption (code 05) generally requires the transferee to be a related individual of the transferor and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. The property must usually have been a principal residence for a continuous period of at least six months immediately before the transfer, though that period may vary.

Related individuals include a spouse, child, grandchild, great-grandchild, parent, grandparent or great-grandparent, the spouse of a child, grandchild or great-grandchild, and the child, parent, grandparent or great-grandparent of a spouse. Siblings are not in this list.

• Siblings qualify only for the family farm exemption (code 07), and farm conditions apply.
• Land over 0.5 hectares, or land not classified residential, is not fully exempt, and a partial-exemption formula applies.
• When you add someone, the exemption is claimed only on the part of the interest coming from related individuals, and tax is payable on any interest acquired from an unrelated owner.
• A transfer between spouses or former spouses under a written separation agreement or a Family Law Act order is claimed with code 15.
• After a divorce, remaining related owners who acquire the former owner's share can each claim a full exemption on their increase in interest.

Capital gains and separation

A gift of capital property is treated as a sale at fair market value on the date of the gift, with any gain or loss reported for that year. For gifts to a spouse or common-law partner you generally have no capital gain or loss, and the recipient takes your cost, though you can elect out of that rollover.

There is no general rollover for a gift to a child, so giving a child an interest in your home is a deemed sale at fair market value. How any gain on a home is treated depends on your situation, so it is worth confirming with an accountant. A sale of property that was ever your principal residence is reported on Schedule 3 and Form T2091(IND).

If you are removing a spouse, being off title does not by itself end their claim, because family property includes property owned by at least one spouse and a beneficial interest of at least one spouse in property. On separation each spouse has a right to an undivided half interest in all family property as a tenant in common. Spouses can make a written agreement dividing property equally or unequally, and it needs each signature witnessed by at least one other person.

Next steps

• Get a current copy of title to confirm how everyone holds it.
• Read your mortgage terms and ask your lender about consent.
• Work out the property transfer tax exemption that fits, if any.
• Ask an accountant about capital gains before gifting an interest.
• If you are separating, a spouse's claim does not depend on being on title, so talk to a lawyer before anyone is removed.
• Have a lawyer prepare and register the transfer.

Frequently asked questions