SQE1 sample questions

Question 78

Ten years ago, a brother and sister bought a house to live in together after leaving university. The purchase price of the house was £200,000. The sister contributed £80,000 toward the purchase price and the brother contributed £20,000. The remainder of the purchase price was funded by a joint mortgage.

The transfer deed to the brother and sister contained a declaration that they owned the house together as joint tenants in equity.

The brother has subsequently instructed his solicitor to sever the joint tenancy in equity.

The brother’s solicitor sent notice of severance of the joint tenancy in equity (‘the Notice’) by Royal Mail Signed For (the modern equivalent of ‘Recorded Delivery’). When the Notice arrived at the house, the cleaner received and signed for it as both the brother and sister were out at work. However, the cleaner inadvertently placed the Notice on the top of a high cupboard and the sister, to whom it was addressed, has not seen the Notice.

A week later, the sister died in a cycling accident.

How was the house owned in equity immediately prior to the sister’s death?

A. A joint tenancy with the brother and sister each holding the whole.

B. A joint tenancy with the brother and sister holding 50% each.

C. A tenancy in common with the brother and sister holding 50% each.

D. A tenancy in common with the brother holding 20% and the sister holding 80%.

E. A 50% tenancy in common with the brother holding 10% and the sister holding 40% and the remaining 50% being a joint tenancy with the brother and sister each holding the whole of that 50%.