Do deeds need changing when father dies leaving his half of house to children?

Searcher2

Last year my father died. The deeds for the house he lived in were in both his wife's and his name. His will specifies that in the event of his death his wife can continue to live in the house as long as she likes and on the death of his wife or her selling the house his half share of the house gets split between my sister and myself. The other half goes to his wife's estate.

I have contacted the solicitor who holds the deeds and drew up my father's will and they want £250+vat plus land registry change fees to change the deeds and change the name on the land registry to reflect the will.

But do I really need to do this? Will a the combination of the will and the existing deeds suffice or am I laying myself open to problems if I don't get it done?

(To be clear his wife is not my mother!)

Richard_Webster

The terms of the will give you a right to have the property transferred but it is a question of enforcing that right.

If you do nothing then your father's wife could sell the property without you knowing and you would then be left to sue here for your share of the proceeds (assuming she had not disappeared). Hopefully that kind of thing would not happen but it does illustrate that it could be important for you to have your name registered at the Land Registry because then any buyer's solicitor would insist that you also signed any contracts/transfers relating to any sale, whereas without it your signature would not be required by them.

Searcher2

Many thanks for the quick reply. It is very unlikely that his wife will sell the house without me knowing - but I guess it pays to be cautious. However, it's a bit like saying 'I don't trust you' as she doesn't see why we need to shell out for a solicitor when the will states what should happen to the house.

A thought has crossed my mind though - can we just get the land registry changed into our names without the need for a solicitor i.e. do it ourselves? I know this would involve a fee but not the solicitor's. The deeds would remain unchanged (i.e. still in my father's name and his wife's).