On the subject of rental income and best use of tax allowance...
I was advised a few years ago that if I/we had a joint mortgage, it was fraudulent if trying to rent the house out but in the name of the 'mrs' only. My wife is a housewife and I thought that would be an obvious method to avoid paying 40% tax on the rent.
It is not fraudulent if done correctly. You are correct that to try and offset income as 'Joint Tenants' (where the HMRC view it as 50/50) would be wrong. You need to sever the 'Joint Tenants' part of the property title with the Land Registry and change it to 'Tenants in Common'. This will then allow you to make a declaration as to who owns what percentage along the lines BV suggested a few posts up.
You don't need a solicitor (but may be easier - plus you could probably declare the expense on your SA form!). The forms/guides are on the Land Registry website. You then need to fill in another form with the HMRC which explicitly allows you to specify ratios of ownership, send off with aforementioned evidence, et voila.
If Starbucks et al (allegedly) can get away with 'creative' tax breaks, then this is small fry and perfectly legitimate to best use your culmulative tax allowances as a couple.
I wonder how many people who have been lurking under the rental tax radar have been vicously outed recently (or are about to be) due to the mandatory SA that comes with most Mil Aircrew's salaries and Child Tax credits....
