Property Deeds in distant relatives name?

Morgage_Confused

Ok I dont have complete facts but this is as far as I can fathom out.

I have found out that my nans house is not on the land registry. Not surprising as it has never been bought or sold apparently.

Theres also no deeds I can purchase online. So I ask to see the paper deeds. Now I havent seen the deeds yet BUT these deeds dont show my now deceased grandfathers name. It transpires back in history he was given the house by a relative. This occurred approximately 80 years ago.

So the deeds are in that relatives name still.!! (long since dead now)

Now my nan is 95 years old and I think no will. She has three offspring. My dad and his brother and sister.

What happens to the house on the death of my nan in this situation. Is there a possibility that a relative of the original owner can have any claim to the property or will it simply be split three ways to nans offspring?

Thanks

p.s. Do I need solicitor.

G_M

There are two issues:

1) The lack of a will. Your grandmother would be advised to write one so that she leaves her cash, savings, investments, property etc to the person/people she chooses.

If she does not, there is a legal priority dictating who will inherit.

http://www.theprobateoffice.org.uk/#!rules-of-intestacy/ccqa

2) The property. This may or may not belong to your grandmother. Probably it does. But this would have to be ascertained when (or before) anyone could inherit. If it does, it will be part of her Estate and pass to the Beneficiary/ies of her Will (if she writes one), or according to the rules of intestacy.

The starting point is the Deeds, so get hold of these and read them. The more paperwork you have, going back as far as possible, the easier it is to prove ownership.

If you know who the relative was who passed the property to your grandfather, that helps. Is that relative still alive? Are there are documents relating to that gift/sale?

Additionally, 80 consecutive years of occupation, without any rent or tenancy, will add to the claim that the property was owned by grandfather and inherited by grandmother.

But to avoid problems later, when seeing a solicitor about a will (see above) I would also ask the solicitor to help with a 'Voluntary 1st Registration' of the property. Once this is done, the property will be registered at the Land Registry in your grandmother's name.

Provided the 1st registration is accomplished without contest.

edit: I assume she is of sound mind? Forgive me - some 94 year olds, like my dad, have the mental capacity of a 50 year. Others have Alzheimers and are therefore judged incapable of writing a will.

PasturesNew

You should take the time to get the deeds in your nan's name now. It's not something many people would've kept up with when passing the house among family.

It's a fairly simple process - probably made simpler while nan's still alive.

Presumably the original owner left it in a will to your granddad? You can get a copy of the will for £10 to see. https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

You'll need to know when the long-passed owner died to type in their name/year of death. You can poke around with http://freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl to find when that was.

Morgage_Confused

Thanks guys....
I hope see the deeds tomorrow. The distant relative is long dead.....but one of his living relatives has been asking a few questions which prompted me to check the deeds and land registry.

We know who the relative was. I assume there was no paperwork involved and also assume he literally just gave the house to grandad. Problem is nan is 95 and of reasonable sound mind but Im sure she wont have a clue about deeds land registry e.t.c. Im hoping the deeds can be found because at this point I only have it more by rumour that the deeds are in someone else's name.

Im gonna get a solicitor and ensure she makes a will.

TBeckett100

I'd wait until your nan is dead. Not nice watching the family work on the paperwork side of the inheritance whilst still alive.

Never ceases to amaze me how people become cash machines in their old age

G_M

TBeckett100 wrote: »

I'd wait until your nan is dead. Not nice watching the family work on the paperwork side of the inheritance whilst still alive.

Never ceases to amaze me how people become cash machines in their old age

Not sure how the family could work on the paperwork once dead....

If (as does not seem to be the case here) family are manouvering to inherit/get their mits on money early/disinherit each other, then yes, it's grubby.

but reasonable advance planning is sensible. and MUCH easier than after a death.

by your argument, no one should ever make a will, set up a trust, or do anything in advance.

In this case it makes perfect sense to advise grandma to write a will (it's up to her who she names as Beneficiaries).

It also makes sense to resolve the anomaly of the propery ownership while she is still there to assist.

AdrianC

G_M wrote: »

Not sure how the family could work on the paperwork once dead...

The executor has pretty much the same options as the Gran does now. Without PoA in place, it'll probably be easier after her passing, as well as more tactful...

OP - when it comes to deeds, possession really is 9/10ths.

G_M

AdrianC wrote: »

The executor has pretty much the same options as the Gran does now. ...

You misunderstand me:

Not nice watching the family work on the paperwork side of the inheritance whilst still alive.

If the family is not alive, watching them 'work on the paperwork' really would be spookie!

getmore4less

Do executors have the same adverse possession rights as a living occupant.

How easy will it be(in the absence of any documentation that the house was sold/gifted) for the line(through wills/intestacy) of the current legal(deceased) owner to make their claim?

agrinnall

Given the lack of any formal paperwork relating to the transfer of ownership I think you need to check the will of the donor (using the link provided by PasturesNew) to see whether the house did in fact form part of the estate on his death. I think there may be a (probably small) possibility that the immediate relatives of the donor, if there are any, could try to make a claim on the house.

Land_Registry

Hopefully the deeds will reveal all but a couple of things to note here

If for example your Grandmother seeks to register the title in her name it won't be a voluntary first registration. If the deeds for example stop at someone other than her then she will need to get the ownership into her name through a legal deed, which would then trigger a compulsory first registration.

If there are no deeds confirming the changes from original donor/owner down the line then you may find you need to work back to the original donor/owner and their estate as agrinnall explains

The other alternative as mentioned is claiming title to the property through actual possession