Can someone explain how this is right?

nom_de_plume

Just read your other thread and I'm beginning to understand things a bit better now.

There is an outstanding mortgage on the property so the conveyancer would not be able to transfer the ownership until that is paid off. Presumably the funds to pay that off come from a part of the new mortgage your sister is getting. This mortgage would be released to the conveyancer in full so they will be holding a surplus of monies that will be paid to you as administrator.

The norm is for a completion statement to be prepared detailing all the costs associated with the sale (transfer) and the conveyancer would deduct these costs (their bill) and give you a cheque for the remainder.

Unless I'm missing something you are worrying unnecessarily although quite why the conveyancer has not advised this as the logical route, I'm at a total loss.

Ames

I think it's complicated by the other debts the estate owes. Someone on my other thread suggested that the conveyancer probably doesn't know a lot about probate law.

But you're right - the conveyancer and probate solicitor should be liaising over the debts, bills etc.

The probate firm always said that it would be as you said - all the money sister got for the mortgage would be handed over to them, and they'd pay everything out of it. But they couldn't do the conveyancing, and it seems to be that introducing this third step has messed everything up.

I'm actually wondering if there might be grounds for a complaint to the probate firm. Surely if they had said all along they'd do the conveyancing and then found they couldn't, they should have been the ones to find an alternative firm and take the lead in liaising with them? Especially given my mental health problems? A lot of this mess seems to be because I didn't understand what I was signing with the conveyancing contract - ie, I thought I was signing as administrator and authorising the conveyancer to work with the probate solicitor, whereas the conveyancer thought I was signing as me individually.

Somerset

Ames, what I'm going to say is meant kindly.


You have been stitched up. But this has only been possible because of your mental heath. Because of your MH you couldn't handle it and passed it on to solicitors (like the first woman) to stop the shenanigans and protect your position. They changed and you wound up with incompetents who frankly !!!!!!!!ted you to suit themselves.


The problem though is still your MH. To take on your sister/father, cancel the sale, deal with the money issues, argue with the solicitors, argue with the conveyance etc etc etc requires more than you've got. You couldn't handle it at the beginning, hence getting the solicitor, and it's got way more complicated now.


You are being stitched up but unless you've got 'someone' to stop the whole thing, unravel it, correctly deal with it, argue/explain to everyone, deal with everything - I think you are scuppered.

getmore4less

nom_de_plume wrote: »

Just read your other thread and I'm beginning to understand things a bit better now.

There is an outstanding mortgage on the property so the conveyancer would not be able to transfer the ownership until that is paid off. Presumably the funds to pay that off come from a part of the new mortgage your sister is getting. This mortgage would be released to the conveyancer in full so they will be holding a surplus of monies that will be paid to you as administrator.

The norm is for a completion statement to be prepared detailing all the costs associated with the sale (transfer) and the conveyancer would deduct these costs (their bill) and give you a cheque for the remainder.

Unless I'm missing something you are worrying unnecessarily although quite why the conveyancer has not advised this as the logical route, I'm at a total loss.

you completely missed the issue the money coming into the estate is the OP's share so they end up paying all the costs.

Ames

Based on my dad's email I'm assuming the sale's gone through (none of the lawyers involved have actually told me it has). So it's far too late to do anything.

getmore4less, yes that's another mistake I made - not making sure that the debts came to less than 55k before accepting the offer. In my dad and sister's defense, they do seem to be under the impression that the debts totalled about 40k. Although quite how they got to that figure when between them they want over 10k I don't know.

The first solicitor said it should be worked out on a basis of sister and I getting an equal amount. So, if we were both to get 45k then the house had to be sold for 90k plus debts (obviously if it were sold for less on the open market then sister and I would each get less than 45k). We were talking about perhaps getting x amount now and a charge on the house to even it up so I got a few extra thousand in a few years.

Dad and sister said it had to be based on what mortgage they could get, which was 100k. The second solicitor said it should be a mixture of that and an agreed sale price. Which I did, but as dad and sister keep upping the debts to the estate it's come back to bite me.

And by the time they agreed to getting an up to date round of valuations done, there were issues caused by the house being left empty - the roof problems. I was under the impression that even if sister was lying about living there part time that dad would be popping in regularly to keep an eye on the place, but obviously not.

The bit that hurts the most is that dad keeps saying he's just 'doing what any father would do', and that he's being fair to both of us!

Anyway there's nothing that can be done now.

I do have to make a decision about the furniture though. All along sister said she wanted it all so she could let the place furnished, now I've had the email from dad to say he's taking it all to the tip over the next fortnight.

Nearly all the furniture in my flat needs replacing. It would be really useful to get stuff from mum's. I'm not sure though if it's cost effective. I'd have to hire a van to bring it over to Leeds from Scarborough, then pay to store it while I get rid of mine. It takes two months for the council to do a bulky waste collection, and even if I had enough room to chuck everything out in the yard till then the neighbours would go mad.

Does anyone have an idea of how much storage would cost for a computer desk, coffee table, dressing table, washing machine, dishwasher and tv stand? And possibly a sofa, although I think it'd bring back too many memories of when mum was dying for me to be able to have that.

There are also some sentimental items - ornaments and a few books - that I'd like to have, as well as some personal belongings of mine that are in the house. I'm going to email dad and ask for those to be put in a box outside covered by binbags so I can collect them.

The other issue of having any of the furniture is that I'd have to see dad again when I collected them, which I don't really want to do. There is a key safe that social services fitted when mum was ill but dad and sister have been very reluctant to use it.

Mojisola

Ames wrote: »

I do have to make a decision about the furniture though. All along sister said she wanted it all so she could let the place furnished, now I've had the email from dad to say he's taking it all to the tip over the next fortnight.

Nearly all the furniture in my flat needs replacing. It would be really useful to get stuff from mum's. I'm not sure though if it's cost effective. I'd have to hire a van to bring it over to Leeds from Scarborough, then pay to store it while I get rid of mine. It takes two months for the council to do a bulky waste collection, and even if I had enough room to chuck everything out in the yard till then the neighbours would go mad.

Hire the van to bring the furniture over, take out the new stuff, fill it with your old stuff and take it straight to the tip/recycling centre.

Ames

I wouldn't be able to do all that in one day because of my physical health problems. I'd need at least a few weeks recovery time between collecting and getting rid of stuff.

Sorry, I should have made that clearer in my post.

getmore4less

Man with a van, will likely be less than the storage issue.

Ames

Thanks. I'll have a look in charity shops over the next couple of days. If I can get the furniture cheaper delivered from them then it makes no sense getting it from mum's. However much it pains me to think of everything just being chucked - I mean, they could at least get a chrarity in, or even a house clearance company. But it all belongs to them now so I have no say.

A man with a van is a good idea though, it'd also mean I wouldn't have to see dad or sister.

Ames

I've finally had a reply from the probate solicitor - she's confirmed that the conveyancing comes out of the estate and she's writing to the conveyancer about it. So that's a huge weight off.

I had a look around a hospice shop today and I can get better quality furniture than I'd get from mum's for a fraction of the cost.

I also decided to try and get an appointment to see the contentious wills solicitor but he's on holiday and I need to contact them again next week. Hopefully the estate wont have been wound up and everything paid by then. It's worth having the free initial consultation just to help put my mind at ease, and to stop me thinking 'what if'.

Thanks again for all the help and advice you've given me.