Adding a Spouse to a Property Title in Queensland: Cost and Process

We discuss the exemptions around how to use “natural love and affection” to get your loved one on on Title for $0, and avoid expensive transfer (stamp) duty!

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Hi everybody – George Sourris, Empire Legal.

Today’s topic: Spouse on Title for $0

How to get your spouse on Title without spending any money.

Do you own a property and want to get your lover on Title for $0? I’m going tell you how – it’s a hack. Not really. It’s the law. However, there are a few conditions that have to be met in order to achieve this.

Number one – the transfer is by way of gift. It’s called a natural love and affection transfer.

Number two – after the transfer, you and your spouse will own the entire home as joint tenants or tenants in common in equal shares.

Number three – the home will be your principal place of residence.

So, a good example here is – I own a property. I go and get married. My wife doesn’t hold any property, and my natural love and affection gift to her is that I want her to come on and own half the property with me. So – she can, as long as we live in it together as our principle place of residence.

There is an interactive guide on the Queensland Revenue Officer’s website, which is available here that you can run through all the eligibility requirements.

One thing to note, this change of bringing a spouse onto title can affect land tax liability, so it’s important that you explore this if it will have an impact.

Also, you can transfer from joint tenants to tenants in common or vice versa, so long as the ownership values do not change. So, for example, let’s just say my wife and I hold the property as joint tenants, and then we want to change to tenants in common or vice versa. That can be done at no charge.

This is governed by Section 143 of the the Duties Act. If you want to know a bit more about the difference between joint tenants and tenants in common, you’ll find the link to that particular blog here.

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How do you add your spouse to a property title in Queensland?

You transfer a share of the property to them. Legally it is a transfer of an interest in land, the same instrument used on any sale, and it has to be registered with Titles Queensland.

The steps are short but none of them are optional:

• Get a valuation of the property, because duty is assessed on market value rather than on what you agree between yourselves
• Sign a transfer form and the supporting Queensland Revenue Office forms
• Complete identity verification for both of you
• Lodge and pay any transfer duty
• If there is a mortgage, get your lender’s consent and have the new owner added to the loan

The mortgage step is the one that derails these. You cannot simply add someone to the title of a mortgaged property without the bank agreeing, and the bank will usually want the new owner on the loan, which means a fresh credit assessment.

What is a natural love and affection transfer in Queensland?

It is a transfer made for no monetary consideration between people in a qualifying relationship, most commonly spouses. The phrase describes the reason for the transfer rather than a separate legal mechanism.

The important part: a natural love and affection transfer does not automatically mean no duty. There is a specific transfer duty concession for transfers of a home between spouses where the conditions are met, and the conditions matter. Get the position confirmed for your circumstances before you sign, because the assumption that family transfers are duty free is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this area.

How much does it cost to add a name to a property title in QLD?

Three separate costs, and people usually only budget for the third:

• Transfer duty, assessed on the market value of the share being transferred, unless a concession or exemption applies
• Titles Queensland registration fees, which scale with the value of the transfer
• Legal fees for preparing and lodging the transfer

On a property with equity and no applicable concession, the duty is by far the largest number. Get it calculated before you commit, not after the transfer is drawn.

Do you have to pay stamp duty to add your spouse to the title?

Sometimes, and it depends on whether a concession or exemption applies to your circumstances. Where it does not, duty is assessed on the market value of the interest being transferred, not on the amount of money that changes hands. If you transfer half of a property worth $900,000 for nothing, the duty is assessed against $450,000.

Our guide to how QLD stamp duty actually works sets out the general rates.

Should you add your spouse as joint tenants or tenants in common?

This decides what happens when one of you dies, and it is not a formality.

Joint tenants means the survivor automatically takes the whole property, outside the will. Tenants in common means each share passes under that person’s will, and the shares can be unequal.

Most couples choose joint tenants. It is often the wrong choice where there are children from a previous relationship, where the contributions were very unequal, or where there is an estate planning or asset protection reason to keep the shares separate. Decide this deliberately, and review your wills at the same time.

Are there capital gains tax consequences?

There can be. A transfer between spouses is generally treated as happening at market value for CGT purposes regardless of what was paid, so the transferring spouse may trigger a capital gain even though no money changed hands. The main residence exemption often covers it, but not always, and not for an investment property.

Not sure what the bill looks like? Use our capital gains tax calculator for property to get an estimate before you commit.

Duty and CGT are separate taxes with separate rules. A transfer that is cheap on one can be expensive on the other, so get both checked before you sign.