Natasha Meyers

Hi - thank you but when I have called the Inheritance Tax team they refuse advice unless someone has died. Please would you advise?

My father is gifting me his house and its contents. He'll remain in the house and will be paying rent for the house and chattels so they will not be gifts with reservation of benefit. There is a safe in the house. My father does not open the safe and does not use its contents. If he gifts me the contents of the safe and they remain in the safe (in the house which I now own), should he pay me rent for the contents? Would it make a difference if he gave me the keys to the safe so it would be impossible for him to open it?

My father is gifting me a flat. As I understand it, (a) the gift is a potentially exempt transfer, so IHT will not be payable if he lives 7 years from the date of the gift and (b) the date from which the 7 years begins is the date on the TR1 form. My solicitor has told me that the date on the TR1 form (which has been sent to the Land Registry) is a date after my father signed it, but two weeks before I signed a counterpart. Is the fact that the date on the form is before when I signed the counterpart a problem? Should it be corrected? What might happen if it was not corrected?