I would like to buy a flat for my 16 year old daughter, I've read she cannot own the flat and an alternative can be a bare trust (i.e. in case of sale when she is 18 years old she will be the beneficial owner and she will be liable for any tax). The question is: is there any way to purchase the flat and to have its property ‘automatically’ transferred to my daughter when she is 18?

Arthur Weller replies:
If you buy the flat for your daughter in your name because she is under 18, presumably as a bare trust as you have written, then the flat is actually hers, as is the income, right from now. So there is no need to transfer anything to her when she becomes 18 - except to change the name on the Land Registry documents, which is a technicality. However because you provided the funds to buy the flat, you will be taxed on the income until she becomes 18, under the settlement legislation: see www.gov.uk/hmrcinternal-manuals/trusts-settlements-and-estatesmanual/tsem4300.