Help want to sell my share of inherited property

karma67_2

Hi

Basically my mother passed away and me and my 3 siblings have been left a share of her property which is mortgage free. Basically two of us want to sell our share and the other two want to keep the house.

The house is valued at around £650,000. My brothers who want to keep the house are offering to buy our share for £220,000 as they cannot afford to pay us any more. They will have to take out an interest free mortgage and the repayment amounts are very high as no other lender would touch them with a barge pole. If they were to borrow £325,000 to buy us out they would have to repay £600,000.

The house has yet to be transferred into our names, my brothers told me that if we (me and my brother who want to sell) want to put our names on the deed then they will take out a mortgage on their 1/2 share and that they will be unable to buy us out. On the other hand if we don't put our names on the deed then they will buy us out at the crappy rate of £220,000 for our half share.

What I would like to know is :-

In order to get our full share of the property legally would we have to put the property up for sale and then divide the proceeds equally four ways, as I am sure the solicitor said that if they couldnt afford to buy us out then the property would have to be sold and divided 4 ways.

If they take out a mortgage on their half of the property and cannot afford the repayments what would happen to me and my brothers half?

Also if we transfer the deeds as tenants in common can they sell their share without our agreement?

Sorry if this is a bit garbled, just getting stressed with it all.


Thanks!

Hope you can help.

ognum

Sorry to hear of the loss of your mother.

HAve you got probate yet because there is little you can do until you have.

before probate you need to establish the value of the property by getting several valuations, remembering you are looking for the price it may sell at rather than the price an EA might put it up for sale at!

You will have hearty tax bill on the property so unless your parents have other assets to pay the tax bill you may need to sell and split the remained after the tax bill is paid.

Does your mother have other assets because it would be possible for your brothers to keep the house and you to have some other assets, cash, shares etc and they have the house.

If you transfer ownership of the house to your brothers in settlement they can then dispose of it as they wish.

hope this helps

andy.m_2

you need legal advice.
I would be extremely hesitant to NOT have my name upon the deeds.

karma67_2

Thanks for your advice. My and my brother are also executors of my late mothers will and we now have probate, we have paid the inheritance tax, out of my mothers other assets so they have now been completely exhausted. The only asset remaining is the house.

Just dont know what to do now *sigh*

TrickyDicky101

They couldn't get a mortgage without your agreement if your names are 'on the deeds'

CLAPTON

1. I assume you mean 'interest only' mortgage rather than 'interest free'

2. a normal repayment mortgage for 325,000 over 25 years at 5.75 % would mean total repayments of 600,000 which is perfectly normal for a mortgage over than period of time.
Why do you think that high?

3. are you saying they can or they can not get a moertgage of 325,000 or are you saying they don't want to get a mortgage that size?

4. It's up to you and your sibling whwther or not you want to give them a large discount of the price but I see no benefit to you.

Why would you give then 50,000?

5. If tehy can't afford the full share then the property is best sold and the money divided equally


6. if you each take a 25% share as tenants in common then although in principle a share could be sold, in practice no-one would want to own 1/4 of property

karma67_2

Thanks everyone for your quick advice

Clapton, i am not an expert on mortgages just going by what my brother said .

My two brothers definitely want to keep their share and do not want to sell the property, which is what I suggested. Would they be legally obliged to? I do not want to give up £50,000 of my share!!!!

irishjohn

Why do your brothers want to keep the house? Sentimental reasons? Do they intend to live in it?

I am going to be quite pragmatic about this as a complete outsider.

First question -
Do you want to realise a cash sum for your inheritance?
If yes - then the house must be sold at market value to enable you to obtain your fair share of the inheritance. If your brothers cannot afford to buy your share at a fair market value then it must be sold to someone else in its entirety.

If no - then the house could be retained. If it is rented out each of you get 25% of the profits, but who looks after all the admin? If the brothers want to live in it then they should pay you a fair rent for as long as they live there and 25% remains your property for future sale or as part of your estate when you die.

If it is kept empty then each of you will be responsible for 25% of maintenance costs while the house is jointly owned.

Another option - your brothers own 50% of a £650K house and can afford to pay £220K to you and your brother. At £110K each that leaves each of you approximately £50K short of your inheritance - so if you decide you need cash now you could accept £110K each with the remaining £50K retained in part ownership of the house - so you and your brother would each retain an 8% share of the house approximately to be repaid at some point in the future.

Personal note - No sibling should expect another to give away their inheritance at a lower sum than its worth!!

Loopgames

I am sorry for the loss of your mother.

Your brothers will not have a choice, if they cannot afford to buy you and your other brother out, but to sell. So they cannot stubbornly keep a property that isn't 100% theirs. It may cause problems and hopefully this will not strain your relationship with them.

But definitely get yourself a solicitor ti help with this matter asap.

bris

So they buy you out for £220k and have a £650k property, in effect they get £430k, are you even thinking about this?
No family members should expect you to roll over on this, more importantly your late mother would want you all to have an equal share.
They are playing on the sympathy vote here, and are tbh taking advantage. Sell it and divide it equally, the difference is to great to even consider.

inmypocketnottheirs

Hi I'm sorry to hear of your loss and then to have the added stress of sorting her estate with your brothers on top.

Irishjohn's post really says it all and give you the various options.

I hope you can work something out that doesn't lose you your share of the inheritance.

Of course in today's market the property may not sell for the asking price, and may hang around for some time. If to get a sale the price had to be dropped by 20%, not uncommon in today's market, then your loss would be a lot less than £50K