Own half a house and brother wants to sell

foxy_lady_48

My brother and I was left a house 50/50. I now live in the house with my gf and 3 kids. Brother wants noothing to do with house. He now wants to sell. I pay him rent of £300 per month until a decision is made about the property. Can he make me sell and is the money I have paid to come off the amount he gets. Please help I love this house.

kingstreet

If you are living in all of the house while you own only 50% of it, the money you are paying is reasonable compensation to your brother for your use of his asset.

Therefore it should not come off his capital share.

Why don't you apply for a mortgage to purchase his share and buy him out?

RobertoMoir

I have sympathy for both your position and your brother's, my brother and I each inherited 50% of a house which I moved into and it was the wish of both of us that I would purchase his share as soon as possible to avoid getting too far into the situation you're in now.

It's understandable that your brother wouldn't want to be a LL - as you can see from the threads here from both tenants and LLs, it can be nothing but hassle, and shared ownership with a family member is only likely to complicate matters.

I don't think he can force you to sell, no, but he can put his share up for sale and the obvious solution is then for you to buy his share - hopefully you can get a mortgage for his share that will cost about the same or less as you currently pay as rent. Assuming your relationship is generally friendly then you should be able to get a 3rd party valuation that's fair to both of you and do this reasonably easy.

As for your rent coming off the cost of his share were you to buy it, as kingstreet says, no that ain't gonna happen. He's entitled to charge rent for his share of the property and that is an entirely separate transaction from the sale of the property.

ic

I would have thought you should have no trouble getting a mortgage - you have history proving your can afford the rent, plus you'll be looking to mortgage at 50% LTV - you essentially have a 50% deposit on the house. Was the £300 far cheaper than any mortgage you might wind up getting?

Don't forget, if he'll struggle to sell only half a house with a sitting tenant/landlord. Strike a deal!

paddy's_mum

He can make you sell, yes. He applies to the courts for an Order for Sale. It is only in rare circumstances that a judge will deny the application. However, it will involve you both in expensive legal shenanigans which are a waste of money if you can find a way to sort it out between yourselves.

So far as the $300 a month rent goes, I'd want to know what the going rate for a similar house in your area would be and work it out as an owner/share/lost revenue percentage from there.

RobertoMoir

paddy's_mum wrote: »

He can make you sell, yes. He applies to the courts for an Order for Sale. It is only in rare circumstances that a judge will deny the application.

I thought this only applied when someone had a charging order against a property - e.g. you don't pay a debt and someone registers a charging order against property you own then uses an Order For Sale to liquidise the asset to get their money? As far as I know you can't randomly get an order forcing someone to sell something with no grounds.

paddy's_mum wrote: »

However, it will involve you both in expensive legal shenanigans which are a waste of money if you can find a way to sort it out between yourselves.

I completely agree with this; regardless of anything else if the OP loves the house and the OP's brother wants to sell their interest in the house then it is in both their interests for the OP to buy their brother's interest in the house with the minimum of fuss and bother, an amicable sale will maximise the return on the sale for the brother and minimise the cost of the purchase for the OP.

SouthCoast

paddy's_mum wrote: »

He can make you sell, yes. He applies to the courts for an Order for Sale. It is only in rare circumstances that a judge will deny the application. However, it will involve you both in expensive legal shenanigans which are a waste of money if you can find a way to sort it out between yourselves.

So far as the $300 a month rent goes, I'd want to know what the going rate for a similar house in your area would be and work it out as an owner/share/lost revenue percentage from there.

I now live in the house with my gf and 3 kids.

I think that it would be very unusual for a Judge to grant an order for sale in these circumstances.

ceebeeby

He's your bro ... why don't you chat through this thread with him. As you said it's a house .... albeit you like it, but why shouldn't your brother have the same capital benefit that you do.

G_M

paddy'smum is right that a court can order the sale.
Also that the cost of going to law over this is crazy - for both sides. work it out between you!

As for whther a judge is/isn't likely to grant such an order I have no experience, but fairness/commonsense makes me think they should. Your brother was left a significant inheritance by your parents which he is likely to want to use to help him buy his own home. It is unfair that you get a home from your parents, and he just gets some 'rent', with his inheritance locked away from him.

And what on earth happens, god forbid, if you and girlfriend split? GF claims the home for the kids and forces you out. Poor you. But worse still, poor brother!

neverdespairgirl

RobertoMoir wrote: »

I thought this only applied when someone had a charging order against a property - e.g. you don't pay a debt and someone registers a charging order against property you own then uses an Order For Sale to liquidise the asset to get their money? As far as I know you can't randomly get an order forcing someone to sell something with no grounds.

There are grounds - he owns half of it!

DVardysShadow

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

There are grounds - he owns half of it!

What? Ownership trumps charging order?