CGT on inherited property

xylophone

In your mother's position, I would be closely checking the wording of grandfather's will - incidentally, was there any clause in it concerning what would happen if either of his children predeceased his wife?

At the very least I would be having a word with HMRC - consulting a solicitor might be necessary if she is unsure of the exact position.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/trusts/intro/

John_Pierpoint

johncrossy wrote: »

No sorry, that's incorrect. Grandmother has lived in the house since 1954, however during the course of that time, the ownership has changed:

100% owned by Grandfather from 1954 until his death in Dec 1997.
equally owned by my mother and uncle between Dec 1997 until my uncle's death in Feb 2010.
100% owned by my mother since the death of my uncle.

At no point has my grandmother lived in my mother's primary residence. She's only lived in the same house since 1954 until the time when social services instructed she needed to go into residential care (march 2013).

Hope this clears it up.

I am afraid that you and /or your mother are finding it impossible to understand that someone can legally own something, but are totally unable to do what they like with it. An overriding law called "equity" [meaning fairness and originally devised by getting the church to intervene and have a word with the king] trumps legal ownership.

In my very humble opinion, that house was given to your grandmother for her life time to keep a roof over the widow's head. As she is now in a care home the house should be rented out and grandmother's income used to pay her care home fees. That would be the equitable outcome.
However what actually happens depends on the exact interpretation of grandfathers intentions, he is no longer here to confirm his wishes.

Exactly what happened when Uncle transferred his "remainderman" interest to his sister. Who has the deed/will? Have you got a copy of what has been registered at the Land Registry? A copy is £3 I think, available on line. [assuming that your grandfather had a competent solicitor involved in his will & probate].

Have the "legals" of the sale already been reviewed by your mother's solicitor. What does he propose to do with the net proceeds of sale?