Property deeds in my name only. Can my unmarried partner take rental income?

Hi, Apologies in advance for the long post and thanks for your time. My UNMARRIED partner and I have undertaken a Buy To Let venture and have now found tenants (yet to move in). The rental property's deeds are IN MY NAME ONLY, but we share finances completely, and have equally contributed to the purchase and renovation of the property. We already have a formal Deed of Trust in place for our financial affairs and this will be amended in time to include this property, but we're not in a position to/don't want to do that just yet. I understand from reading other posts that, as we are unmarried, we are able to - based on formal written agreement and without "Form 17" being completed - split rental income in whatever share we agree. This is something we intend to do as without it I fall into a 60%+ marginal tax bracket. We intend to split the income based on an agreement with the following wording: DECLARATION OF BARE TRUST I, (Myself), hereby declare that I intend to create a trust to transfer the entire rental income generated by rental of the property described as (Property address) to (Partner), without the transfer of legal ownership. By making this declaration, I acknowledge that (Partner) is entitled to all income derived from the rental of the property. This is a bare trust, no conditions or restrictions are attached to the transfer of beneficial interest. I understand that this declaration does not require registration with the Land Registry, nor does it necessitate the delivery or witness of signatures. The trust becomes enforceable from the date of this declaration. Signed…………………………. Date………………………………….. My questions are: (1) Can we redirect income to my partner even if she has no share of ownership under the Title Deeds? (2) If not, can a Trust document be created (similar to above) stating % ownership of the property, and be used to apportion ownership, rather than having to involve conveyancing & Land Registry (noting that, as the % ownership and % income do not need to be the same, the % ownership will not be significant enough to trigger SDLT or CGT, e.g. 1% transfer) (3) If the answer to (1) is "Yes", is the Trust statement I have used sufficient? Many thanks.

Hi
Thank you for your question.  
For your partner to be assessable on part of the income you would have to transfer part of the ownership to her, otherwise all the income from property would belong to you for tax purposes and the fact you choose to give this to your partner is just between you both.  
A deed of trust is not just for tax purposes, it is a legal document, so if you take out a deed of trust, transferring a share of the property to your partner, she would become the legal owner of that share of the property.  
More information can be found in our online Trusts, Settlements and Estates Manual from TSEM9105 onwards.

Isn't this a direct contradiction of TSEM9170?

Hi,

TSEM9170 states when TSEM9160 does not apply then there must be a separation of income from property by way of a valid declaration by deed or trust. 

Thank you.