Selling a house with an absent co-owner

Davetedjack

A friend of mine is trying to sell a house that he is the co-owner of with a relative who lives in another country but can't be contacted.

I will explain a little further, the house has been rented to the local authority for many years and they recently gave notice to leave. My friend contacted the solicitor who acts on behalf of the relative who co-owns the house with him but found that the relative died about 13 years ago and the rent has been put in an account on behalf of any benefactor of the relative. That rent has been unclaimed for over 13 years.

Does anybody know how my friend sorts it out so he can sell the house? Is there a time limit or any case law that allows him to proceed and sell the house?

He has approached the solicitor acting on behalf of the deceased relative to try and trace anybody who is entitled to the rent or to give permission to sell but the solicitor refuses to help saying he only acts on behalf of the other party.

There are now bills coming in for the property which is no longer being rented and it appears my friend will be liable and can't get assistance from the account that is being held by the other parties solicitor.

Why am I interested ? Well i am interested in buying the property but feel the difficulties stated above are going to take forever to resolve.

Any advice will be appreciated

Thanks in advance, Dave

00ec25

Davetedjack wrote: »

A friend of mine is trying to sell a house that he is the co-owner [STRIKE]of with a relative who lives in another country but can't be contacted. [/STRIKE]. The other owner is dead but their estate has not been distributed as there are no known beneficiaries and the executor is holding the property in trust and refuses to authorise the sale from the estate

I have shortened your message to focus on the key bits and have assumed the solicitor is the executor of the will otherwise after 13 years the estate should already have reverted to the State under intestacy rules

if the solicitor has been unable to find any surviving heirs up or down the family tree of the deceased after 13 years then nothing is going to happen quickly on this one - walk away

bossymoo

Doesn't it also matter how the house was owned? Ie tenants in common or joint tenants?

If they are joint tenants then surely the property passed to the sole surviving party on death of the first?

Think your friend needs to get his own legal advice on this one...

tim123456789

00ec25 wrote: »

- walk away

He's the seller (or at least asking on behalf of), so that will be pretty difficult

00ec25

tim123456789 wrote: »

He's the seller (or at least asking on behalf of), so that will be pretty difficult

err - read each post twice before commenting then you may be able to provide a more accurate and useful response. Davetedjack is asking on behalf of himself....

Davetedjack wrote: »

Why am I interested ? Well i am interested in buying the property but feel the difficulties stated above are going to take forever to resolve.

Any advice will be appreciated

Thanks in advance, Dave

G_M

If the solicitor is acting as Executer/Trustee for the deceased party, he has a duty to manage the Estate responsibly.

That includes
* paying bills as they arise
* arranging to sell the property if that is in the best interests of the Estate.

Whilst the property was let, and earning income for the Estate, then that was a reasonable useof the property. If itisnow empty, earning nothing for the Estate, and accruing bills, then the Executer/Trustee should take action. eg

* arrange to let the property again or
* sell it

BOTH of those options would require discussion/agreement with the other joint owner.

But I agree - in terms of your proposed purchase, be prepared to wait....!