Moving Home When Your House Is in an Estate Allocation Trust

Having your home in an Estate Allocation Trust (EAT) does not stop you selling it and buying somewhere else. Your trustees sell the old house, use the money to buy the new one, and the new home goes into the trust in its place. You carry on living there exactly as before.

What changes is the paperwork. Because the house is legally owned by your trustees, not by you personally, your conveyancer has to deal with them. That usually means a few extra questions: what kind of trust is it, who has to sign, and how much Stamp Duty is due. Those questions are normal, and most of them have straightforward answers.

This article walks you through the move, step by step, so you know what to expect and what to hand your conveyancer.

A quick refresher: who is who

• Settlor and life tenant: you (and your partner, each with your own fund). You keep the right to live in the home for life. For tax, the rules mostly look at you, not the trustees.
• Trustees: you, your partner and usually at least one other person, often an adult child. They are the legal owners, and they sign the sale, the purchase and the Stamp Duty return.
• Protector (if you appointed one): a trusted family member or friend who may need to agree to certain decisions, depending on your deed.
• Beneficiaries: usually your children or grandchildren. Nothing changes for them. They have no fixed share while you are alive.

Two points matter most for a move. First, the trustees own the house in law, so every trustee signs. Second, you are the life tenant, which means you are entitled to live in the home for the rest of your life. That single fact drives most of the tax answers below.

Selling your current home

The sale works like any other, except that your trustees are the sellers.

Every trustee signs. The transfer deed (the TR1) is signed by all the trustees named on the Land Registry title. If one of them lives far away, your conveyancer can post the papers, but build in time for it.

There must be at least two trustees. The law protects a buyer by requiring the sale money to be paid to at least two trustees (or a trust company). This is called "overreaching", and it is why the Land Registry puts a standard note on your title, known as a Form A restriction. An EAT normally has two or more trustees, so this should already be covered. If a trustee has died or stepped down, sort out a replacement before you go on the market.

The money stays in the trust. The sale proceeds belong to the trust, not to you personally. Ideally they go into an account in the trustees' names and straight back into the new home. Do not pay them into your own current account in the meantime.

Capital Gains Tax should not normally be due. Trustees can claim private residence relief, the same relief that stops most people paying Capital Gains Tax when they sell their home. It applies where the house has been the only or main home of someone entitled to live there under the trust (HMRC CG65400). As life tenant, that is you. Two things to know: the trustees have to claim the relief themselves, and it only covers the time the house was genuinely your main home.

Buying your new home

Your trustees buy it. Trustees have a legal power to buy land for a beneficiary to live in (Trustee Act 2000, section 8), and the EAT deed sets out the trustees' powers too. The new home is registered at the Land Registry in the trustees' names, with the same Form A restriction as before. All the trustees sign the purchase paperwork.

Tell your conveyancer early. Say at the very start that the buyer is the trustees of your EAT, and that the new home will replace the old one in the trust. A conveyancer who finds out halfway through has to stop and re-check things, which is where delays and extra costs come from.

Stamp Duty: the question everyone asks

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) applies in England and Northern Ireland. The question is whether you pay the normal rates, or the normal rates plus a 5% surcharge that applies to second homes.

When trustees buy a home, HMRC looks at what kind of trust it is (GOV.UK):

• Bare trust: HMRC treats the beneficiary as the buyer, so it is judged on their own circumstances.
• A trust where someone is entitled to live in the home for life: HMRC treats that person (the life tenant) as the buyer, so it is judged on their own circumstances.
• A discretionary trust with no right to live there for life: HMRC treats the trustees as the buyer, like a company. The 5% surcharge usually applies, even on a first purchase.

The EAT is designed so that you, as life tenant, keep the right to live in the home for the rest of your life. On that basis, HMRC treats you as the buyer, not your trustees. The question then becomes the same one any home mover faces: is this replacing my main home?

Replacing your main home

If the new house replaces your main home, you pay the normal rates, as long as the old home is sold on or before the day you complete on the new one (GOV.UK). Because the old house was also held in the trust for you to live in, its sale counts as you selling your previous main home.

If you buy before the old home is sold, the 5% surcharge is charged at first. You can claim it back if the old home is sold within three years, and you must claim within 12 months of that sale (or of the filing date of the return, if later).

What the difference looks like

On a £400,000 home, using the rates from 1 April 2025:

• Normal rates: £0 on the first £125,000, £2,500 on the next £125,000 and £7,500 on the last £150,000. Total: £10,000.
• With the 5% surcharge: £6,250, £8,750 and £15,000 on the same slices. Total: £30,000.

That £20,000 gap is why your conveyancer is right to check the trust carefully before filing the return. The return must be filed within 14 days of completion.

First-time buyer relief does not apply to a purchase by trustees, and you would not qualify anyway as you have owned a home before.

Wales has its own tax (Land Transaction Tax) with different rules, so if you are moving to Wales, ask us before you agree a price.

If the new home costs more, or less

Most moves are not like-for-like. Here is what to think about in each case.

Moving up: adding your own money

If the new home costs more than the sale price, you may want to add savings to make up the difference. Talk to us before you do. Money you put into a trust can count as a new gift into the trust for Inheritance Tax. The EAT caps the main trust fund at your available nil rate band (normally £325,000), and anything above that is meant to sit in the bare trust sub-funds. We need to check how the extra money is allocated, and whether you have made other gifts into trust in the last seven years.

An alternative is to buy the new home partly in the trust and partly in your own names. That keeps things simple for tax, but it changes how the home passes on your death, so it needs thinking through.

Using a mortgage

Many high street lenders will not lend to trustees. If you need a mortgage, even a small one, speak to us and a mortgage broker before you make an offer. Finding out late can put the whole chain at risk.

Downsizing

If the new home is cheaper, the leftover money stays in the trust. It does not automatically come back to you. The trustees hold it and can use it for you as the deed allows, for example to top up your income.

Downsizing does not have to cost you the residence nil rate band (the extra £175,000 Inheritance Tax allowance for a home passing to children or grandchildren). A "downsizing addition" can protect it if you moved to a cheaper home, or sold up altogether, on or after 8 July 2015. Keep a record of the sale price and date of the old home, as your executors will need it.

Updating the trust records

The trust is registered with HMRC's Trust Registration Service. If anything on the register changes, such as a new trustee, the lead trustee must update it within 90 days. We will also update our own file so the right property is recorded against your trust.

Moving home, step by step

1. Call us before you put the house on the market. We will check your trustees are all in place, confirm how the new home will sit in the trust, and flag anything about your situation that needs care.
2. Check your trustees can all sign. If a trustee has died, lost capacity or moved abroad, a replacement may be needed. Do this first, as it can take a few weeks.
3. Choose a conveyancer and tell them about the trust on day one. Give them the items listed in the next section.
4. Plan the timing. Completing the sale on or before the same day as the purchase is simplest. If you must buy first, budget for the 5% surcharge and claim it back once the old home sells.
5. Sort out any shortfall early. If you are adding your own money or need a mortgage, speak to us and a broker before you make an offer.
6. All trustees sign the sale and purchase papers. Allow time for posting documents to trustees who live further away.
7. Keep the money in the trust. Sale proceeds go to the trustees and straight into the new home, not via your personal account.
8. After completion, tell us. We update your trust file and help the lead trustee update the Trust Registration Service within 90 days if anything has changed.
9. Keep the paperwork together. Store the completion statement, the Stamp Duty return and the new title with your trust deed.

What to give your conveyancer

Most delays happen because the conveyancer is working the trust out from scratch. Handing them these on day one saves time, and often saves fees too.

• A copy of the signed trust deed, so they can confirm the trustees' powers and the type of trust. It is in your welcome pack, or ask us.
• Names and contact details of all trustees, as every trustee signs and needs ID checks.
• Proof of Trust Registration Service registration, which many firms ask for under anti-money laundering rules. The lead trustee can download it from GOV.UK.
• A copy of this article, which explains the life tenant's right to live in the home, the point that decides the Stamp Duty rate. Forward them the link, or ask us to send it direct.
• The current title and Form A restriction, showing the old home is held by the trustees. Your conveyancer can download this.

With your permission, we are happy to speak to your conveyancer directly. It is usually quicker for everyone.

Your conveyancer may still recommend that you take separate advice, particularly on Stamp Duty. That is a fair request: they are the ones signing the Stamp Duty return. This article, together with your trust deed, is designed to make that advice quick and inexpensive.

Common mistakes

• Buying the new home in your own names. If the old home was in the trust and the new one is not, the trust ends up holding cash instead of a house, and your plan no longer works as intended.
• Paying the sale money into your personal account. It belongs to the trust. Mixing it with your own money muddies the records and can create tax questions later.
• Telling the conveyancer late. A trust discovered halfway through means re-checks, delays and extra fees.
• Assuming the 5% surcharge applies. For an EAT where you are the life tenant, the starting point is that HMRC looks at your circumstances, not the trustees'. Do not pay the surcharge without checking.
• Assuming it never applies. If you buy before your old home is sold, or the trust deed has been changed, the answer may be different.
• Forgetting a trustee. A trustee who has died or cannot sign will hold up completion.

The bottom line

• Can I move? Yes. Your trustees sell, then buy the new home into the trust.
• Who signs? All the trustees, and there must be at least two.
• Capital Gains Tax on the sale? Not normally, as private residence relief applies.
• Stamp Duty on the purchase? Normally the standard rates, if the new home replaces your main home and the old one is sold first.
• Adding money or getting a mortgage? Talk to us first.
• Best tip? Call us before you list the house, and give your conveyancer this article on day one.

If you are thinking of moving, you can book a free consultation or call us on 01233 659796. We would much rather hear from you before you sell than after.

This article is general information for England and Wales, not legal, tax or financial advice. It describes the Estate Allocation Trust as we prepare it at Squiggle; other trusts can work differently. Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England and Northern Ireland; Scotland and Wales have their own property taxes with different rules. Figures are correct as at October 2026 and the rules can change. Please seek personal advice about your own circumstances.