Can I sell my 50% of a property?

GDB2222

So, you seem to have only one option then: Sell to someone who is prepared to battle it out with your brother, but the price is bound to be at a substantial discount to the £250k worth of your share. Are you prepared to do that?

Of course, if you actually line someone up, it may galvanise your brother into action.

Richard_Webster

If A and B own a property and A wants to sell his share to P (purchaser) then for P to have his name on the Land Registry title both A & B must sign to effect the transfer.

In this case it seems unlikely the brother will sign so any "sale" of the half share would not only be at a substantial discount it would only be the assignment of the beneficial right to the half share - leaving poor P having to sue B to get the property transferred to him.

How would OP make sure that P got his share of the rental income?

I just can't see any buyer in their right mind walking into this one.

GDB2222

Richard_Webster wrote: »

If A and B own a property and A wants to sell his share to P (purchaser) then for P to have his name on the Land Registry title both A & B must sign to effect the transfer.

In this case it seems unlikely the brother will sign so any "sale" of the half share would not only be at a substantial discount it would only be the assignment of the beneficial right to the half share - leaving poor P having to sue B to get the property transferred to him.

How would OP make sure that P got his share of the rental income?

I just can't see any buyer in their right mind walking into this one.

Where there's muck there's brass. There must be a discount to the price at which the hassle factor becomes worthwhile. I speculated that that would be 20-30%. Do you think I am being over-optimistic?

Incidentally, for tax purposes the HMRC valuation office accept a significant discount for properties jointly owned in this way. I begin to see why, now.

Edit: The other point I meant to mention is that the brother may not in fact be unhelpful and antagonistic to the OP. The brother may simply want to hang on to his half-share in the property and get the 10% income. So, an investor coming on the scene with the intention of holding the property long-term may suit brother very well, and there may be no problem at all getting the property re-registered etc.

The real issue is that the OP will not want to sell at a discount, yet he lacks the cash to cut the Gordian Knot and take his brother to court to get the property sold.

JQ.

GDB2222 wrote: »

Where there's muck there's brass. There must be a discount to the price at which the hassle factor becomes worthwhile. I speculated that that would be 20-30%. Do you think I am being over-optimistic?

Yes, you are being massively over optimistic. There are plenty of completely normal investments out there that will produce far better returns than 10%. No sane investor would put themselves in that position - holding an investment for which they don't receive a return, can't sell and have to sue to get ownership with no guarantee of success. Good commercial property lawyers don't come cheap and a purchase of such a property would be committing the buyer to significant ones over the next few years.

There is very limited demand for commercial property investment at present, factor in a nightmare scenario such as this and you just will not get a buyer at any price that makes it worth selling - you might get someone prepared to punt £20k on it, but I'd even be surprised at that. The OP does not have a marketable interest and I suspect the people they've spoken to about value don't actually understand that.

The only way to resolve this is to get the current ownership formalised and resolved - if that means going to court to force the brothers hand then so be it. You will not sell this interest on the open market I can assure you.

ps - OP, if you want cash to get on with your life, why not just raise finance against the property and use that money instead of forcing a sale. I'd imagine that would be alot cheaper in the long run, plus you get a long term investment that may prove very useful later in life. Or, why can your brother not buy it off you, there'd be a 50% LTV on a commercial mortgage which I would imagine would be acceptable to most lenders, but it will depend on the covenant strength of the tenant and lease length.

Richard_Webster

why not just raise finance against the property

Need brother's signature for that too!

GentleGiant_2

basically I am stuffed..... apart from going to court and hoping that I do not lose.

Then I really will declare myself bankrupt.

Gordon_Hose

Why not ask your brother what his expectations are, then compromise from there?

You both sound as stubborn as each other tbh.

GDB2222

JQ. wrote: »

Yes, you are being massively over optimistic. There are plenty of completely normal investments out there that will produce far better returns than 10%. No sane investor would put themselves in that position - holding an investment for which they don't receive a return, can't sell and have to sue to get ownership with no guarantee of success. Good commercial property lawyers don't come cheap and a purchase of such a property would be committing the buyer to significant ones over the next few years.

I'm lost. Why do you say there's no return? The OP said that there's a 10% return, so there's no reason to believe that the brother is withholding rent. Brother does not want to sell and is stalling for time.

Can you provide a list of "completely normal investments out there that will produce far better returns than 10%"? I'm in!


There is very limited demand for commercial property investment at present, factor in a nightmare scenario such as this and you just will not get a buyer at any price that makes it worth selling - you might get someone prepared to punt £20k on it, but I'd even be surprised at that. The OP does not have a marketable interest and I suspect the people they've spoken to about value don't actually understand that.

The only way to resolve this is to get the current ownership formalised and resolved - if that means going to court to force the brothers hand then so be it. You will not sell this interest on the open market I can assure you.

Current ownership is formalised, AFAIK. It seems that we are agreed that the OP's interest can be sold. It's just a matter of the price that can be fetched, which depends a lot on what the brother wants.

GDB2222

GentleGiant wrote: »

basically I am stuffed..... apart from going to court and hoping that I do not lose.

Then I really will declare myself bankrupt.

If you are that close to bankruptcy, is your brother hoping to pick up the half-share in the property cheaply from the trustee in bankruptcy perhaps? Not very nice, but I guess it's possible.

There must be a price it's worth your brother's while to buy your share off you for. Have you asked him?

GentleGiant_2

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Why not ask your brother what his expectations are, then compromise from there?

You both sound as stubborn as each other tbh.

Not stubborn at all.

Simply willing to sell at any agent at any price.

Problem is everything I suggest / propose is met with silence for a month and then he responds with something else - so I agree to that and so we start another month.

Problem is he will not speak to me and hasn't done for years. So it makes it very difficult, we are talking through a third party.

I am at my wits end & powerless to move on.