Can a beneficiary prevent a sale of a house?

mountainofdebt

OH, along with SIL and a 3rd beneficary, are beneficiaries to the proceeds of a sale of a house under FIL will.

The house is on the market and a prospective purchaser has made two offers, both of which OH and SIL were happy to accept but the 3rd beneficiary has rejected - so the property remains on the market.

Can OH and SIL insist on the property being sold at the offers made (they are the main beneficiaries) or does all 3 beneficiaries have to agree at what price the house is sold? Or will the executors step in and act as referees?

jonesMUFCforever

Who are the Executors?
What does the will say? Does it say that net proceeds will be divided up between OH, SIL and 3 Beneficiary.?
If so and Executors are happy that the price offered is a fair and honest open market price then the Executors should sell and divide the money as per the will.

Is there anything stopping 3rd Beneficiary from buying out OH and SIL if not happy with price offered??

mountainofdebt

OH and SIL have a bigger share of the net proceeds than the 3rd beneficiary of the sale of the house and the executors are a firm of solicitors.

The sale is being handled by a firm of estate agents.

Unfortnately the 3rd beneficiary is not in a position to 'buy out' OH and SIL - and to be honest we think all they can see is the £££s so I don't think that would an option even if they were.

It seems a tad unfair that the 3rd beneficiary can effectively block the sale of the house.

insured

An executor must act in the interest of all beneficiaries.
If you have a professional executor like solicitor or accountant, then they should take into consideration the intests of all beneficiaries.
If the offer is reasonable and not at a massive undervalue, then it would be unreasonable for the executor not to accept the offer, despite one beneficiary not wanting to take that offer.
The executor has final say on the sale, but must take into consideration all of the beneficiaries and act reasonably towards all beneficiaries. If there are conflicts between the needs of those beneficiaries and disputes arise, then he must take a view.
You really must speak to the executor and make your views known.

peter999

mountainofdebt wrote: »

OH, along with SIL and a 3rd beneficary, are beneficiaries to the proceeds of a sale of a house under FIL will.

The house is on the market and a prospective purchaser has made two offers, both of which OH and SIL were happy to accept but the 3rd beneficiary has rejected - so the property remains on the market.

Can OH and SIL insist on the property being sold at the offers made (they are the main beneficiaries) or does all 3 beneficiaries have to agree at what price the house is sold? Or will the executors step in and act as referees?

How long has house been on market ??
Were the offers sensible ??
Who is maintaining house ??

The beneficiaries should have a meeting to discuss, then discuss with Executors.

The 3rd beneficiary holding out, may be the one with the commonsense.

peter999

mountainofdebt

Ah in an ideal world the beneficiaries would get together, decide on a price that they would accept, let the executors know and leave it at that.

Unfortuantely becuase of what has happened in the past there is very little chance of ameeting ....well unless the UN peace keeping force was present, lol!

At the moment, the house is being maintained by the 3rd beneficiary under the terms of the will and as to whether the price is a realistic one is anyone's guess in today's market.....the last offer was 5% off the asking price and its been on the market for the last 3 months.

Looks like we're going to have to wait until the 3rd beneficiary decides to accept an offer!

jonesMUFCforever

Why not suggest selling at auction with the price offered so far as reserve.

That way 3rd beneficiary can't accuse other 2 of ganging up surely?

Alfie_E

Here’s my understanding of it. Unless the will states that property should be sold and the money given to the residuary beneficiaries, the property passes directly to the beneficiaries. It is then up to the beneficiaries to each decide what each wishes to do with their share of what’s been inherited. When houses and shares are sold by an executor, it is usually for the convenience of the beneficiaries, not because the will requires it.

The third beneficiary is certainly entitled to choose not to sell their share. Your OH and SIL are equally free to sell their shares of the house, independently of the third beneficiary. This is the case for any property held as tenants-in-common. Partial sales don’t usually occur. If you sold a 50% interest in a house, you wouldn’t expect to get anything like 50% of the value of the house as a whole. When buying a house, people usually want to buy all of it.

insured

Mountainofdebt, you do not need a meeting with the beneficiaries. Talk to the solicitor/executor and tell him that you think he is not acting in your best interest. Put it in writing. He will have to take action. It is up to him to contact the other beneficiary if he thinks fit.
As someone said, it may be the third beneficiary who is the one acting reasonably, the solicitor must be the judge.
It is the other way round from what Alfie says.
Unless the will says each asset passes the the beneficiaries, all monies from the sales of assets when liquidated and distributed according to the terms of the will.
You must speak to the executor if you are not happy.