Help want to sell my share of inherited property

antrobus

karma67 wrote: »

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*

You get legal advice from a solicitor. You ask him to put it in writing and you wave that piece of writing in front of the other siblings.

Of course, I don't know whether the brother who is the joint executor is in the 'keep it' or 'sell it' camp. If the two executors are in agreement then it would be fairly straightforward; you put the property up for sale, and leave it up to the other two to buy it if they can. Otherwise you might have to go to court.

rpc

Get your names on the deeds. You own a part share, that should be recorded at the land reg.

A part-buyout looks like the way to go. They give you £220k and the shares are varied from 25/25/25/25 to 8%/8%/42%/42% (I think those numbers are right). Then, when they get more money, they buy your 8% at an agreed rate.

None of you can mortgage the property without agreement from all owners. No (or nearly no?) lender will be willing to lend on a property where there are owners on the deeds who are not signed up to the mortgage. It can make recovering their security very difficuly (how can you repossess someone who was not party to the mortgage?). You may also find problems taking out a mortgage with 4 people named.

Forcing a sale can be done, but will cost ££££££

edit: and you also get your solicitor writing to them to explain the options in black and white (and the mortgage/ownership issues). Explain that the only way you will relinquish your claim to the property is if they buy your share in full, which could involve a sale. Make the point that such a sale can be ordered by the courts.

rosyw

One point to bear in mind is that as executors, you and your brother have the power to sell the house without needing to go to court, it needn't be transferred into your names at this point, as executors you can legally sell. This may not go down well with the 2 brothers who wish to keep the house, but may go some way to push them into paying the full value. If they really can't afford to buy your shares at the correct price they will have to accept the fact that the house must be sold, would they expect anyone else to drop the price of thier property simply because they wanted it but could raise the money?

JQ.

rpc wrote: »

Get your names on the deeds. You own a part share, that should be recorded at the land reg.

A part-buyout looks like the way to go. They give you £220k and the shares are varied from 25/25/25/25 to 8%/8%/42%/42% (I think those numbers are right). Then, when they get more money, they buy your 8% at an agreed rate.

None of you can mortgage the property without agreement from all owners. No (or nearly no?) lender will be willing to lend on a property where there are owners on the deeds who are not signed up to the mortgage. It can make recovering their security very difficuly (how can you repossess someone who was not party to the mortgage?). You may also find problems taking out a mortgage with 4 people named.

Forcing a sale can be done, but will cost ££££££

edit: and you also get your solicitor writing to them to explain the options in black and white (and the mortgage/ownership issues). Explain that the only way you will relinquish your claim to the property is if they buy your share in full, which could involve a sale. Make the point that such a sale can be ordered by the courts.

The difficulty of agreeing to % split is how does the OP get their £50,000 back? If the sibblings can't afford it now, are circumstances going to change such they could afford it in the future - potentially the OP won't get their money back until the sibblings die, when it's unlikely to be of any use to them.

The alternative would be to place a longstop date into the agreement such that the siblings have 5 years to repay and if not the house will have to be sold. However, that just puts the OP back to the position they are currently in.

Personally I only see 2 sensible options:
1. The house is sold and proceeds divided equally
2. The 2 siblings buy out at full current Market Value - how they achieve that is up to them, but no discounts should be offered.

Any other complicated sub-divisions and splits will just lead to further arguments down the line. What happens if the house needs a new roof next year, will the 2 majority owners, who potentially live in the house, expect the OP to contribute 8% of the cost? Another family argument ensues. What happens if one of the majority owners gets into financial difficulties and stops paying the mortgage?

Mumto3cheekymonkeys

I would sell and split equally. are there not other houses in the area that your brothers could afford?

DVardysShadow

rpc wrote: »

Get your names on the deeds. You own a part share, that should be recorded at the land reg.

This looks logical. But in practice, it is unnecessary and will add to complications. Don't transfer the house to anyone until you know what will be done with it. At the moment it is part of mother's estate and it can stay that way until issues are sorted.

As executor, you have the power to sell or distribute shares of the property, without needing to take anything to court. As soon as you distribute shares, anyone who wants money from their share will have to force the issue and may have to take it to court to force a sale.

noh

It does depend on the terms of the will.
Was the house a specific legacy ie did the will say I leave my house (at address) to my four (named) children to be divided equally.
Or did it say my entire estate is to be divided equally?

If the former then the house ownership should be equally split between the four siblings.

If the latter the executors have a duty to dispose of the house in a way that gives the greatest benefit to the estate.

sandsni

I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. I really hope you and your siblings can sort this out amicably and fairly to all of you. 50k is a lot of money, but I would urge you and your siblings to seriously consider whether it's worth losing family over (which could potentially happen if and when solicitors get involved). In 10 or 20 years time the 50k could be long gone, but you will still be family.

If your mother passed away quite recently, it could be that the 2 siblings who want to keep the house are just not ready to sell yet. Do you have a pressing need for the money right now or could you afford to have the house in all 4 names for the time being? It would mean you would have to work out with your other siblings about maintenance time & costs, but it might save a lot of heartache in the future.

skeato

There is a lesson to be learned here, dear mum should have been advised to make it a condition in her will that the property is to be sold and the proceeds shared 4 ways

You cant argue with a will

rosyw

Sorry, meant to say earlier how sorry I am for your loss.
You need to remember that as executors you and your brother MUST distribute your mum's estae in accordance with her will, so if it says you should all receive equal shares then that is what must happen, if the house needs to be sold in order do to that, and the two brothers that want to buy you out can't raise the required amount, then you have no choice in the matter. You have to do what it says in the will.