Declaration of Trust for Property

A declaration of trust is a legal document that records exactly how two or more people own a property together, including the size of each person's financial stake and what happens to that stake if the property is sold. It matters because the deeds registered at the Land Registry only show who owns a home, not how much of it each person owns. If you are buying with a partner, a friend, or a family member and you are not contributing equal amounts of money, a declaration of trust is the document that protects your investment. It is especially important for unmarried couples, who have none of the automatic financial protections that marriage provides, and for parents who put money towards a child's deposit and want that contribution recorded rather than treated as a gift.

A declaration of trust (sometimes called a deed of trust or trust deed) sits alongside the legal title but does a different job. The title confirms who legally owns the property. The declaration of trust records the beneficial interest, in other words who is entitled to what share of the value. It is not the same as a will, which deals with what happens to your assets after you die, though the two documents need to work together and should never contradict each other. Browse our conveyancing hub for guidance on every other stage of buying or selling a home, from searches to completion.

• Also known as: deed of trust, trust deed, or declaration of beneficial interest.
• Who needs it: co-buyers contributing unequal amounts, unmarried couples, friends, and parents helping with a deposit.
• Cost range: roughly £30 to £1,200 plus VAT depending on complexity and who prepares it.
• Legally binding: yes, provided it is properly drafted, signed by all parties, and witnessed.

A declaration of trust becomes essential the moment your financial contribution to a property does not match your co-owner's, or when you want written proof that money you have put in should count as an investment rather than a gift. The following scenarios cover the situations we see most often.

Buying with a partner and contributing unequal amounts

If one of you puts in a £40,000 deposit and the other puts in £10,000, a declaration of trust records that split so that on sale, the £30,000 difference is returned before any remaining profit is divided. This is especially common among first-time buyers, since our guide to first-time buyer mortgages shows how often one partner brings significantly more savings than the other. Without a trust deed, unmarried couples default to equal shares regardless of who actually paid what.

Parents helping with a deposit

When a parent contributes £20,000 or more towards a child's deposit, a declaration of trust can record this as a loan or a ring-fenced share of equity rather than an outright gift. This protects the money if the child later separates from a partner, or if the parent needs the funds returned. See our guide on gifted deposits for how lenders treat these contributions.

Buying with a friend or family member

Friends buying together, siblings pooling savings, or family members investing jointly in a rental property all benefit from a declaration of trust that sets out shares, responsibilities for costs such as maintenance, and an exit route if one party wants to sell.

One partner paying the mortgage but both on the title

Where both names appear on the mortgage and title but only one person makes the monthly payments, a declaration of trust can reflect that imbalance so the paying partner is not left short if the relationship ends.

Protecting an inheritance used towards a property

If you use an inheritance to fund a deposit or pay down a mortgage, a declaration of trust ring-fences that sum so it remains yours on sale, rather than being split according to standard ownership shares.

Every property owned by more than one person is held under one of two legal structures: joint tenancy or tenancy in common. The structure you choose determines whether a declaration of trust is even possible, so understanding the difference matters before you get to the paperwork.

• Joint tenants: you each own the whole property equally, with no individual shares. On death, your interest passes automatically to the surviving owner regardless of what your will says, a rule known as the right of survivorship.
• Tenants in common: you each own a specified, separate share, which can be equal or unequal, such as 70/30 or 60/40. There is no automatic right of survivorship, so your share passes according to your will.

A declaration of trust only makes sense alongside tenancy in common, because it exists to record unequal or specific shares. If you currently own as joint tenants and want unequal shares recorded, your solicitor must first sever the joint tenancy, which converts your ownership to tenants in common before the trust deed is drawn up. Joint tenancy suits couples who are financially equal and want simplicity. Tenants in common suits anyone contributing different amounts, buying with a friend, or wanting control over who inherits their share. For more on how this fits into a purchase from start to finish, read our conveyancing process guide, and see our comparison of joint tenants versus tenants in common for a deeper breakdown.

A well-drafted declaration of trust is a detailed legal document, not a simple form. It needs to cover every financial scenario that could arise during ownership and at the point of sale, so there is no ambiguity if circumstances change or the relationship breaks down.

• Names of all parties: full legal names of every person with a beneficial interest in the property.
• Property details: the full address and title number as registered with the Land Registry.
• Financial contributions: the deposit each person paid, ongoing mortgage payments, and money spent on renovations or improvements.
• Ownership shares: whether shares are fixed percentages, such as 65/35, or fixed sums that get repaid before any profit is split.
• Sale proceeds: the exact formula for dividing money when the property is eventually sold, including how any mortgage balance is repaid first.
• Disagreement over sale: what happens if one owner wants to sell and the other does not, often including a mechanism to force a sale after a set notice period.
• Relationship breakdown: provisions covering separation, including timelines for one party to buy out the other or for the property to be sold.

Costs vary enormously depending on how the declaration of trust is prepared and how complicated your situation is. Cutting corners to save a small amount upfront is one of the most expensive mistakes co-buyers make, because an unclear or invalid trust deed can cost thousands to fix or argue over later.

Online template services

Basic templates cost around £30 to £100 and suit only the simplest situations, such as two people contributing a single lump sum each with no mortgage complexity. The risk is that generic wording fails to cover your actual circumstances, particularly around mortgage repayments, renovations, or what happens on separation.

Solicitor-prepared

A solicitor will typically charge £300 to £600 plus VAT to draft a standard declaration of trust tailored to your contributions and circumstances. This is the right choice for most co-buyers, since a solicitor will ask the right questions and draft provisions you would not think to include yourself.

Complex situations

Where there are multiple owners, a rental property, existing mortgages with different lenders, or contributions from parents as well as buyers, expect to pay £600 to £1,200 plus VAT. This reflects the extra time needed to structure shares correctly and check tax consequences. For a full breakdown of what conveyancing costs across a property transaction, see our guide to conveyancing fees.

Professional preparation is worth the extra cost because a declaration of trust only has value if it holds up when tested, whether that is on sale, on separation, or in a dispute between owners. A £400 trust deed that prevents a £20,000 argument five years later is not an expense, it is protection.

Numbers make this easier to understand than definitions alone. Here is a typical scenario showing how a declaration of trust records contributions and divides proceeds when two buyers put in different amounts.

Partner A and Partner B buy a property together for £300,000. Partner A contributes a £45,000 deposit from savings, while Partner B contributes £15,000. They take out a joint mortgage for the remaining £240,000 and split the monthly repayments equally. Their declaration of trust records the unequal deposit and states that on sale, each partner first receives back their original deposit contribution, then any remaining profit or loss is split according to an agreed percentage, in this case 60/40 reflecting the deposit split.

Five years later, they sell the property for £360,000. After repaying the outstanding mortgage of £220,000, there is £140,000 left to divide. The trust deed ensures Partner A recovers their £45,000 deposit and Partner B recovers their £15,000 deposit first, leaving £80,000 profit split 60/40, so Partner A receives £48,000 and Partner B receives £32,000.

A declaration of trust itself rarely triggers a tax bill, but the way you structure ownership shares can affect stamp duty, capital gains tax, and income tax down the line. Understanding the basics helps you avoid surprises, though you should always get professional tax advice for anything beyond a straightforward two-person purchase.

Stamp duty (SDLT)

Simply recording unequal beneficial shares in a declaration of trust does not usually trigger an additional SDLT charge, because SDLT is based on the purchase price paid to the seller, not on how you divide ownership between yourselves afterwards. SDLT can apply later if you transfer a share for money, such as when one partner buys out the other.

Capital gains tax

Capital gains tax only becomes relevant when the property is sold or a share is transferred, and only on any property that has not been your only or main home throughout ownership, such as a rental. Transfers between spouses and civil partners do not trigger CGT, but transfers between unmarried partners, friends, or other family members can do.

Income tax

If the property generates rental income, HM Revenue and Customs generally expects tax to be paid according to the beneficial ownership shares set out in your declaration of trust, not according to who is named on the mortgage. This makes an accurate trust deed important for anyone considering a buy-to-let mortgage with a co-owner, since shares can be structured to reflect each person's tax position.

These rules are general guidance rather than advice for your specific circumstances. Anyone with rental income, multiple properties, or plans to transfer a share should speak to an accountant or tax adviser before finalising the shares in a declaration of trust.

Yes, a declaration of trust can be changed, but only if every party named in the original deed agrees to the change. One owner cannot unilaterally rewrite the shares or terms without the others' consent, which is one of the reasons the original document needs to be clear from the outset.

Changing a trust deed usually means instructing a solicitor to draft a deed of variation, or in some cases replacing the original document entirely with a new declaration of trust that supersedes it. The new deed should be signed, witnessed, and dated in the same way as the original to remain legally binding.

• Marriage or civil partnership: couples sometimes choose to move to equal shares after marrying, even if contributions were originally unequal.
• Additional contributions: if one owner later pays for a major renovation or extension, the shares can be adjusted to reflect that investment.
• Remortgaging: refinancing sometimes prompts a review of shares, particularly if one person takes on a larger share of the new borrowing.
• Adding or removing an owner: bringing in a new partner or removing someone from the title requires a fresh declaration of trust alongside updated Land Registry paperwork.

If you own as tenants in common, which is required for a declaration of trust to apply, your share of the property does not automatically pass to your co-owner when you die. Instead, it passes according to the terms of your will, or under the rules of intestacy if you do not have one. This is very different from joint tenancy, where the right of survivorship means the surviving owner automatically inherits the whole property regardless of any will.

This makes it essential that your will and your declaration of trust say the same thing. If your trust deed states you own 60% of a property but your will leaves your entire estate to someone other than your co-owner, that person could inherit your 60% share, potentially forcing a sale or creating a dispute with the remaining owner. Anyone entering a declaration of trust should review their will at the same time, and update both documents together whenever circumstances change, such as after a marriage, a new child, or a change in contributions.

When you buy a property with someone else, your solicitor completes a TR1 form to transfer the legal title into your names at the Land Registry. Panel 10 of the TR1 form asks how you hold the property: as joint tenants, or as tenants in common in equal shares, or as tenants in common in unequal shares.

If you tick the box for unequal shares, the TR1 form itself does not record what those shares actually are, it simply flags that a separate agreement exists. That separate agreement is your declaration of trust. Without it, there is a tick box confirming unequal ownership but no legal document proving what each person is entitled to. This is why solicitors recommend preparing a declaration of trust at the same time as the TR1 form during your purchase, rather than leaving it until later when memories of who paid what have faded and both parties may no longer agree on the details.