Add or edit the ownership arrangement for properties

This article explains how to split the ownership of properties between multiple individuals in FreeAgent, and how to edit or delete ownership arrangements.

Please note:

  • The individual ownership percentages must total 100 per cent.
  • It’s not possible to add or edit an ownership arrangement in a locked accounting period.
  • You’ll need full (level 8) access to your FreeAgent account to add or edit an ownership arrangement.
  • Each individual in the ownership arrangement will need to be added as an owner user in FreeAgent.
  • The ownership arrangement is used by FreeAgent to calculate the split of income and expenditure on the property section of the Self Assessment return.

Navigate to your property settings

Select the ‘Property’ tab at the top of the screen and select ‘Edit property settings'. Alternatively, select 'Settings' from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner and then select 'Property Settings'.

‘Edit property settings’ button highlighted at top of Property page.

You can either add a new ownership arrangement or edit an existing arrangement.

Adding a new ownership arrangement

Select ‘Add new ownership arrangement’. 

‘Add new ownership arrangement’ button highlighted at top of Property Settings page.

Select the relevant property from the ‘Property’ drop-down menu. You can select 'All properties without specific arrangements' to apply the same ownership split to multiple properties or individually assign different ownership splits to specific properties. Properties without an assigned split will automatically default to the 'All properties' split unless otherwise specified.

Drop down menu with options to choose specific properties, or all properties without specific arrangements.

Select the relevant individual from the ‘User’ drop-down menu. Each individual in the ownership arrangement will need to be added as an owner user in FreeAgent.

User selected from drop down menu for Percentage ownership.

Enter the individual’s ownership percentage in the ‘Percentage ownership’ field.

Percentage field next to User in Percentage ownership.

For jointly owned properties, select ‘Add another owner’ and enter the second individual’s ownership percentage.

‘Add another owner’ button highlighted in Ownership customisation section.

Repeat this process for any additional owners. Please note that the ownership percentages must total 100 per cent.

Owners’ percentage of ownership totalling 100%.

Enter the date that the ownership arrangement is effective from using the date picker in the ‘Effective from’ field. Please note that it’s not possible to select a date that is:

  • on or before your FreeAgent start date
  • already marked as ‘effective from’ in another ownership arrangement
  • during a locked accounting period
Date selected from date picker in ‘Effective from’ field.

Once you’ve entered all of the relevant details for the ownership arrangement, select ‘Save changes’ to complete the process. The new ownership arrangement will be applied to the selected property in FreeAgent.

Setting a new overall ownership arrangement

To set a new ownership arrangement for all properties, make sure that ‘All properties without specific arrangements’ is chosen as the property name.

'All properties without specific arrangements' selected on drop down menu.

Please note that if you have set up other ownership arrangements for some, but not all, properties with an earlier effective date of ownership, then these ownership arrangements will continue even if you set a revised ‘All properties’ arrangement after that date. You would need to set up a revised ownership agreement for each individual property that you have previously assigned an ownership arrangement to.

Editing an existing ownership arrangement

Please note that an existing ownership arrangement cannot be edited in FreeAgent if the time period is affected by any account locks including filed Self Assessment returns for any user.

Navigate to your property settings and select ‘Edit’ to the right of an ownership arrangement. 

‘Edit’ button highlighted next to Property ownership arrangement.

To change the ownership percentage for an owner, enter the revised percentage in the ‘Percentage ownership’ field.

Percentage of owner highlighted next to owner name.

To change which individual owns that percentage, select the relevant individual from the ‘User’ drop-down menu.

Owner name highlighted.

If the properties are jointly owned by additional owners, select ‘Add another owner’ and enter the individual’s ownership percentage. Please remember that each individual in the ownership arrangement will need to be added as an owner user in FreeAgent and the ownership percentages must total 100 per cent. 

‘Add another owner’ button highlighted in Ownership customisation section.

Once you’ve entered all of the relevant details for the ownership arrangement, select ‘Save changes’ to complete the process.

Please note that it is not possible to edit the assigned property. If you need to change the split to a different property, you would need to delete the ownership arrangement first and then add a new arrangement for the correct property.

Deleting an existing ownership arrangement

Please note that an existing ownership arrangement cannot be deleted in FreeAgent if the time period is affected by any account locks, including filed self assessment returns for any user.

Navigate to your property settings and select the ‘X’ to the right of an ownership arrangement. 

Red ‘x’ button next to property ownership arrangement.

Select, ‘Yes, delete this ownership arrangement’ in the pop-up window to complete the process.

'Yes, delete this ownership arrangement' button highlighted in pop up window.

Alternatively, select ‘Edit’ to the right of the ownership arrangement and then ‘Delete this ownership arrangement’. 

‘Delete this ownership arrangement’ button highlighted at top of Edit ownership arrangement page.

Select ‘Yes, delete this ownership arrangement' in the pop-up window to complete the process.

'Yes, delete this ownership arrangement' button highlighted in pop up window.

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