What do people think of this property deal?

Pinter

A middle-aged woman lives next door to an elderly man. She moves house but they remain friends for many years after. He dies and his only relative is an elderly sister who lives many hundreds of miles away. The elderly sister wants to sell her brother's home and the middle-aged woman offers a low amount for the property which is well-below market value. Let's say the offer was £75,000. The sister accepts. The middle-aged woman makes cosmetic changes to the property at a cost of a few thousand pounds and sells the property for, let's say, £150,000.

I'd be interested to know what people think of such a deal. Is it completely acceptable or is it morally questionable? I have no relationship with any of the people involved.

maninthestreet

Why would the elderly sister accept such a low offer for the property if they could get more for it on the open market???

Idiophreak

We once sold a car to our neighbour to help them out of a spot. They sold the car for 50% more the next week.

!!!!!!ed if I'd make the same mistake with a house.

pinkteapot

How would the elderly sister find out?

Idiophreak

pinkteapot wrote: »

How would the elderly sister find out?

Does it matter if the elderly sister finds out?

If I stole a fiver from her wallet, but she never noticed, would that be OK?

kinger101

I think there is no place for tedious stories like this on this forum.

pinkteapot

Not saying it makes it OK. But after reading the OP I wondered if someone with no relationship to any of the parties was going to inform the sister of the sale.

Of course it's morally wrong but the sister accepted the offer. If she wasn't of sound mind, one of her relatives or friends should have stepped in.

ReadingTim

• Was the elderly sister happy with the price she received?
• Did the elderly sister investigate other buyers/ways of selling the property before going with the middle aged woman?
• Did the middle aged woman make any promises to the elderly sister regarding her future ownership of the property?
• Was the elderly sister sound of mind when entering into the transaction?

I think you need to provide a little more information before anyone can make a judgement to be honest...

AdrianC

Idiophreak wrote: »

If I stole a fiver from her wallet, but she never noticed, would that be OK?

Who's "stealing" anything? The sister voluntarily accepted a low offer for a hassle-free sale.

Does it make the deal legal? Yes, absolutely.
Does that make the deal morally acceptable? Not imho, based on the limited information available.

Maybe the work done only cost a few grand, on a DIY basis, but would have cost considerably more done professionally. Maybe there was a question mark over whether more susbstantial structural work would be needed, which turned out not to be. Maybe there was some other potential blight.

PasturesNew

If the house was hundreds of miles away and she'd not seen her brother for decades and if she couldn't travel or be in a position to sort it all out, then the stress of trying to sell a house at a distance might have been the death of her. For some a "quick and easy solution at a cheap price" is the correct way forward.

Yes, on paper, it looks like the ex-neighbour "ripped off" the sister, but any situation is greater than the paper report.

Guest101

Pinter wrote: »

A middle-aged woman lives next door to an elderly man. She moves house but they remain friends for many years after. He dies and his only relative is an elderly sister who lives many hundreds of miles away. The elderly sister wants to sell her brother's home and the middle-aged woman offers a low amount for the property which is well-below market value. Let's say the offer was £75,000. The sister accepts. The middle-aged woman makes cosmetic changes to the property at a cost of a few thousand pounds and sells the property for, let's say, £150,000.

I'd be interested to know what people think of such a deal. Is it completely acceptable or is it morally questionable? I have no relationship with any of the people involved.

Assuming it's gone thru probate there's nothing wrong with that.

The man could've left the property to her direct if he'd chosen to.

Oh I misunderstood, moral theft? No. She got a house, and an offer to buy, she accepted.

Doesn't matter what happened after