My wife and I recently bought a property on a buy-to-let basis, which is registered as tenants-in-common in unequal shares with the Land Registry. The Land Registry does not record the proportion of the property shares. I want to inform HMRC that I wish to hold 1% and my wife 99% of the property on Form 17 so that it is tax-efficient for me. HMRC require some sort of declaration or deed to support this situation. Would you be able to tell me what I should write in the declaration; does this require a witness, and does this need to be signed by a solicitor?

A declaration can only be made on a Form 17 (available from HMRC) (see www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/tsemmanual/TSEM9852.htm). The Form 17 should be accompanied by evidence of beneficial ownership of the property. This could be a deed of trust, which should be signed by witnesses.