Inherited half a house, and now nothing we can do

si101

My grandmother passed away 18 months ago, leaving us with the only property she ever owned - a half-share in a property she didn't live in, currently being lived in by her elderly sister-in-law and grown up nephew.

To spare everyone the family wrangling background, we are now in a position where we own half a house, that we want to sell as its of no use to us - they won't (and never have) paid us any rent (they say they can't afford to) and it is of no use to us other than as cash we need for other things. We offered them our half for sale at below market rates and assumed they'd be happy to get to own it outright.

But no, they decided to be difficult. They refused to acknowledge we owned it. Both sides got solicitors involved. We all got copies of the deeds to prove we owned it. They fired their first solicitor when he told them that. They got a second solicitor. We waited months to allow him to "familarise" himself with the case. He told them we did own half of it. They fired him too. The third solicitor (after another lengthy process) did eventually convince them we owned half of it, and (when threatened with going to court) they then said they would buy our half. And then it took them 6 months to come up with an offer, we accepted but they said they hadn't got a mortgage sorted yet so would we wait for that (we waited for that, it took them months). They finally got a mortgage sorted, but now apparently we have to wait again as actually they want to get a court of protection order on the elderly sister in law so her share in it is protected (which is fine, but it takes 3 months, they mentioned it in July, they still have not, as of today, actually applied to the court of protection).

We are at our wits end. As far as we can tell there's actually nothing to stop them delaying for the rest of time rather than actually resolve this. Our solicitor advises us against going to court as apparently they would qualify for (the replacement for) legal aid but we wouldn't so they could drag it out in the courts for so long we used our share in lawyers fees. We offered to buy their half instead (we could then put the whole damn thing on the market) but they won't accept that either.

Has anyone ever heard of a similar situation and what we could do to resolve it? Would any of these equity companies buy half a house do we think? Do we have any recourse to make them actually do anything other than the courts? Is there any sort of official arbitration we could enter to make them stick to a timescale?

We do have a solicitor but she was recommended by a family friend and, to be fair, i am starting to think it was a bad recommendation, she takes literally weeks to answer even simple emails and then charges us 2 hours of time for each one!

spidereyes

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Just wanted to clarify a few things first from your post;

Who's name as actually on the deeds, Im assuming from your post its your grandmother and her sister in law who the property registered to?

I'm assuming you have grant of probate for your grandmother?

If as I stated above the sister in law has her name on the title deeds then she must consent to selling the property as a whole, eg you cannot dispose of the property without her agreement.

Your only other option is obviously a transfer of equity into either your name or hers but again you need her agreement for this.

Please someone correct me if Im wrong but as far as I am aware if she legally owns half the property then there is absolutely nothing stopping her from refusing to sell her share, or buy yours. eg, the courts could not order her to sell it to you.

In addition to your question I find it highly unlikely that any company would touch a property with a 50% share because as like you have found they would not be able to do anything with it.

xylophone

Make sure that you are registered at the Land Registry as tenant -in common and that there is a restriction as to sale. http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-18

G_M

If you can stomach it I think Allison's idea is best.

Move into your property an start making life difficult there. After a while they will be only too pleased to buy you out.....

si101

The deeds have been changed to now list by name as a co-owner as my grandmothers beneficiary, as probate was all done properly, and the change has been registered.

Also in terms of her being "made homeless" we are not talking about a little old lady living by herself in a little bungalow, we are talking about the lady living in a large 3 bedroom detached family home in a desirable area, the half of which (that she does own) would easily buy her a nice, secure retirement home on any one of several nearby developments. The main problem is her adult son (full time employment, single, no disabilities) who has lived there his entire life rent free, and who his mother had promised would inherit the whole thing when she was gone, who has *not* been pleased to find out thats not going to happen as she doesn't actually own it all.

I was hoping to avoid the whole "start moving in" thing but that may have to come to that. I may threaten them with paying me rent or i will, as i'm planning on asking half of full market rent for the place which by my calculations will be more than a mortgage repayment on my half.

And waiting out the sister in law's life sounds a nice plan but my husband is disabled and we wanted the money for alterations to our home to make life easier for him, she may be elderly but she's not particularly frail or at all unwell, she may live longer than my husband will at this point.

missile

I do not think there is any legal way to evict your SiL and Nephew.

You can threaten but it would be an empty gesture, why do you think you can force her to pay rent?

Waiting her out does not seem a viable option either. She will no doubt will her half to her nephew.

You could try letting one of the bedrooms to generate some income and annoy your GM's sister in law.

probate was all done properly

I don't think so ... this issue should not have been left unresolved.

Was your solicitor the executor? I would look for a good solicitor who is a bit more pro-active. It seems unlikely you will ever reach agreement and it seems the only way you will resolve this impasse is by seeking a court order for sale and splitting the net proceeds in accordance with the share as set out in the title deeds.

thelem

I always think it helps to try and see the other side of the argument. In this case, I imagine the sister-in-law is scared she's going to be made homeless and thinks you are greedy for wanting to kick her out of her home when you've not put anything towards it.

You've also not really offered a realistic solution:
a) Pay rent - which she can't afford and wouldn't give you a lump sum
b) Get a mortgage - also an extra outgoing, so presumably equally unaffordable
c) Lose the home she's happy in and move to somewhere cheaper

The basic problem is she is currently living beyond her means, but doesn't realise it because she has always been subsidised by your grandmother. If you want cash without a court case, you need to convince her that she'll been awfully lucky for the last few years, but that was just your grandmother being extremely generous and unfortunatly you're in a situation where you need the money now (obviously that'll be easier if you're bringing up five kids in a two bed flat than if you just want a nicer car).

If you don't need the cash immediately, are there any other solutions that are affordable to your sister in law while still getting you some value out of the property? If the property has 3+ beds then a lodger isn't a ridiculous idea, but it would need to be someone that your sister in law and nephew are happy to live with.

Or what about having the rent paid in equity? I'm not sure how that would work legally, but it would allow your sister in law to keep her house, and for you to get some benefit from your asset (albeit in the form of an investment, rather than something you can spend now).

We are at our wits end.

If you're at your wits end, then how is your elderley sister in law? You are just missing out on a bonus windfall, she is worried she may lose her home.

retiredin2011

Look at it another way.

What would you be doing now if you had never been willed half the house?

G_M

Allison_Haskins wrote: »

No need for you to move in, just say you are seeking a benefit appropriate to 50% ownership and will be letting room to a tenant/lodger
.

I good idea but it won't work.

No lodger will last more than a week cos their life won't be worth living...

You have to move in yourself, together with your drum kit/whatever, and wage a war of attrition till a compromise is reached.

getmore4less

I wonder if SIL could have challanged the will to have life interest.

The issue might be that the mortgage will be for the nephew not the SIL and it may be that he has tried to get the place for himself without the SIL on the mortgage.

whitewing

Would OP have to pay tax on this inheritance?