Can We force my Brother to sell our late mother's house?

Quizzical_2

Myself and my 2 brothers inherited our mothers house when she died nearly 5 years ago via probate. The plan was to sell and split 3 ways but the house market was stagnant so after 2 weeks my older brother took it upon himself to privately rent the house out. The rent is evenly shared out (at least I think it is) but I am now 71 years old and could do with the £40k ish as it would make a massive difference to my standard of living in the latter part of my life. My younger brother also wants to sell but our older brother refuses!
Is there any way we can force the sale?
I have checked the title deeds via the land registry and the house is still in our parents names too!

Thank you.

pauletruth

yes you can but expect it to be expensive.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! If you are a landlord you should be involved in the finances, know what money is coming in and out for your tax return and be sure the reams of landlording legislation is being complied with. Loads of information here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=41160642&postcount=12

Who are the executor(s) and why have the names on land registry not changed? What exactly did the will say, did you inherit one third of a house OR did the will state that the house were to be sold and the proceeds divided three ways? The latter will make it easier for you to force a sale.

IMO you would be best getting legal advice, you may be able to settle your bill at the end out of the sale proceeds/ inheritance if you cannot afford to pay up front.

Thrugelmir

Quizzical wrote: »

I have checked the title deeds via the land registry and the house is still in our parents names too!

Thank you.

Who were the executors of your late mothers will?

As appears that they haven't performed their legal duties.

missile

I do not think it was legal for your brother to let without other siblings consent, but as you did not objected to this at the time it may prove difficult to do so now?

It is never too early to consult a (good) solicitor. Many offer initial consultation for free.

moneyistooshorttomention

Has your brother got the legal "authority" to manage what happens to the house - ie whether it sells or gets rented?

If all 3 of you have equal "authority" - then I would imagine you have just as much right to "put it on the market for sale" as he has to rent it out.

What proof of the rent payable do you get from your brother - or are you just taking his word for it that he gets what he says he is getting for it? For all you know - he could be charging £800 rent per month for instance - but telling you and the other brother that he only receives £500 for it.

Check RightMove for similar houses for rent in this area and see what the average rent is for a similar property and then you will be able to see whether the rent level he says he is charging sounds like "the going rate" or no.

It sounds very odd for your brother to have announced that the house market was stagnant and therefore the house HAD to be rented out - after only two weeks. Two weeks is nothing - even in "normal times" and in an easy-to-sell type part of the country.

It might be worth checking out with HM Revenue and Customs as to the tax position on the rental income - ie whether he alone is responsible for paying the tax on this rental income (ie because he alone is the one responsible for renting it out). I don't know the answer to that - as to whether its his responsibility alone or "joint and several" responsibility (which would equal you and other brother sharing that responsibility for paying tax). If you get lucky and find the tax responsibility is all his - then that would probably "put a bomb under his backside" to get a move on and agree to the house being sold (as maybe he hasn't been paying that tax all these years).

olly300

You can force your brother to sell the house but the only people who will be getting the money will be the solicitors you engage to force him to so you will be getting less than the 40K.

I suggest you and your younger brother have a meeting with your older brother.

Politely point out to him that you would like your names on the deeds and state that one of you, either you or your younger brother will sort it out and then who ever of you two who is designated to do it do it asap. (If it's you then you know to come back here and ask for help.)

Then ask him for written accounts for the rent i.e. how much the rent is, expenses, repairs, agents, etc. Make sure he gives them to you and arrange another meeting or go to his house to get them.

Make sure both yourself and your younger brother get involved in sorting out the rental property. This means that any decision he makes on who the agent is or repairs have to be agreed by all of you. This means you will have to find a plumber on occassion because you don't agree with his choice, or vet the tenants because you don't agree with his choice.

One he realises that you are both going to stick your oar in in every decision he is going to make with renting the property, he is likely to be very happy to agree for the place to go on the market. However you will have to wait until the present tenants want to leave.

If both of you can't be bothered to sort out changing the names on the deeds or "helping" to manage the rental property then it's not surprising he walks all over you.

BTW even when the housing market was booming it took more than 2 weeks to sell a property. So I suggest that your brother thought he would make more money long term renting the property out than selling it.

princeofpounds

Yes, as a shared owner you can ask the court for an order for sale. This is not actually that expensive as long as the ownership situation is clear.

However, your problem is that there is another layer of complexity around the inheritance and title. So was there a will and who was the executor?

jbreckmckye

I'm not sure, but it might be possible for two of the three landlords to sell their share of the let to another investor. I'm not sure how the details would work out, but it would allow you to recoup the money without your brother losing his rental income.

I have also seen part-buy, part-rent properties sold to consumers, but again, I'm not certain how easily that can be arranged.

00ec25

jbreckmckye wrote: »

I'm not sure, but it might be possible for two of the three landlords to sell their share of the let to another investor. I'm not sure how the details would work out, but it would allow you to recoup the money without your brother losing his rental income.

I have also seen part-buy, part-rent properties sold to consumers, but again, I'm not certain how easily that can be arranged.

possible yes, but not in this case as none of the brothers are actually the owners

the property still remains within the father's estate as it is not at all clear whether there was a will and who is dealing with distribution of the estate

as others said, if the will left a % of the property to each person then the ownership has not yet been registered by the executor who has thus failed to do their duty and can be sued for mal administration

if the will left a share of the proceeds of sale then that is what has to happen, the property has to be sold by the executor in accordance with the will, eg brother who wants to let it must physically buy out the shares of the other two so he becoms the sole owner

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It might be worth checking out with HM Revenue and Customs as to the tax position on the rental income - ie whether he alone is responsible for paying the tax on this rental income (ie because he alone is the one responsible for renting it out). I don't know the answer to that - you do indeed know nothing about tax

the rental income is attributable to the registered owners, however, except in the case of a married couple, it can be split between them in whatever portions they agree, it does not have to be the exact ownership %

BUT, in this case, if there is no will, then at the moment the rental income belongs to the estate not to the brothers and the estate (ie personal representative) should be filing a tax return to declare the income and pay the tax on the net profit with the money remaining within the estate. The brother who lives there and presumably collects it therefore cannot legally access it until the estate is sorted

propertyman

I know your question is "can we force our brother to agree to sell it"
and I suspect you dont want to "get into the will etc".

But you have to, as until HMLR have you three registered as owners, you can't sell it.

And that means it starts with the will.

Or sell it to your brother....