'Estate' house valuation.

Adelenot

I am one of three brothers. Our mother died just over a year ago. My elder brother is the executor. Mum had remarried after being widowed many years ago. She owned her own house in which she and hubby number two lived. Mum has left the house to us three brothers and to her husband in equal share.
All seemed well until shortly after mum's death when her husband took against us and has broken off all communication with us. He also owned his own home which for twelve years he rented out whilst living with mum. He has three children also. We are all in our forties. SO ...after much delay he has bought another house and moved out a few days ago. (He went and sold his own house eight months ago.) Now, my elder brother would like to buy mum's house -our family home- and myself and the third brother are happy for him to do so at a properly valued price. The house has now been valued by an independent surveyor (RICS) and we are happy with the valuation ... but guess what? Mum's husband is not happy with it. What should or can we do ? Do we need his agreement as it's three against one. Your advice would be gratefully received. Oh, one other thing we would use a solicitor for the conveyancing but we don't want to put it on the open market because of estate agent fees and because my brother wishes to buy it.

Yorkshireman99

Adelenot wrote: »

I am one of three brothers. Our mother died just over a year ago. My elder brother is the executor. Mum had remarried after being widowed many years ago. She owned her own house in which she and hubby number two lived. Mum has left the house to us three brothers and to her husband in equal share.
All seemed well until shortly after mum's death when her husband took against us and has broken off all communication with us. He also owned his own home which for twelve years he rented out whilst living with mum. He has three children also. We are all in our forties. SO ...after much delay he has bought another house and moved out a few days ago. (He went and sold his own house eight months ago.) Now, my elder brother would like to buy mum's house -our family home- and myself and the third brother are happy for him to do so at a properly valued price. The house has now been valued by an independent surveyor (RICS) and we are happy with the valuation ... but guess what? Mum's husband is not happy with it. What should or can we do ? Do we need his agreement as it's three against one. Your advice would be gratefully received. Oh, one other thing we would use a solicitor for the conveyancing but we don't want to put it on the open market because of estate agent fees and because my brother wishes to buy it.

He has no say in the matter unless he was part owner and his name is on the Land Registry record.

getmore4less

Along side the valuation I would collect local evidence on asking and sold prices of broadly equivient properties.

As long as they are in the right ball park then the chances of him winning a court case would reduced.

If he believes it is worth a lot more then consider a put up or shut up, give him 30days to exchange contracts and pay the higher price.

if there was no right to live in the place in the will, how much rent did you get?

Mr.Generous

get three valuations from estate agents and see how they compare. Zero cost option, then present valuations to him. You can always stick it on the market at whatever price he thinks it worth, if its over valued you wont get much interest and no sale for sure.

Keep_pedalling

Your step father has no say in this. As long as the executor has done his duty and obtained the market value to distribute to the beneficiaries there is no come back on him.

I would not communicate any further with him, apart from sending him his cheque once the estate has been wrapped up.

For piece of mind your brother might find it helpful to consult a solicitor to make sure he has followed everything to the letter.

Yorkshireman99

Mr.Generous wrote: »

get three valuations from estate agents and see how they compare. Zero cost option, then present valuations to him. You can always stick it on the market at whatever price he thinks it worth, if its over valued you wont get much interest and no sale for sure.

Zero cost but not sufficient in the circumstances. The OP has got a professional valuation that should be sufficient.

sammy1234567

For the estate I am handling, I got a report from a company called Move With Us. The report compared about 5 local similar properties, giving reasons why the estate's property should sell for higher or lower than the other 5 properties, also the report consulted 2 local estate agents and took their opinions into consideration, finally it took into account everything and gave a value that should be aimed at when marketing, and a value for probate purposes.
It was quite a good report and the valuation given surprised me, as it suggested the property was slightly undervalued by the local estate agents by about 10K.
The report cost about £320.
(Move With Us were working with a company called Simplify, who have a bad reputation with many on this MSE site. I used them for probate before I read anything bad about them. I found they were okay.)

Yorkshireman99

sammy1234567 wrote: »

For the estate I am handling, I got a report from a company called Move With Us. The report compared about 5 local similar properties, giving reasons why the estate's property should sell for higher or lower than the other 5 properties, also the report consulted 2 local estate agents and took their opinions into consideration, finally it took into account everything and gave a value that should be aimed at when marketing, and a value for probate purposes.
It was quite a good report and the valuation given surprised me, as it suggested the property was slightly undervalued by the local estate agents by about 10K.
The report cost about £320.
(Move With Us were working with a company called Simplify, who have a bad reputation with many on this MSE site. I used them for probate before I read anything bad about them. I found they were okay.)

The value for probate should be the open market value. Particularly if the estate will attract IHT, or there is any risk of litigation, the only sound way to get a value is to use a member of RICS or a similarly qualified person. Estate agent values are notoriously innaccurate.

Adelenot

Thank you all for your replies. It does give piece of mind to know that using a RICS is the right way to go. I'll tell him to read this Forum.

Adelenot

To answer your query, we didn't ask for rent because until recently we didn't know it was possible. Also, apparently you cannot back date a demand for rent.
We've all been a bit naïve and probably too accommodating of his behaviour ...live and learn. Thanks for your reply.

Adelenot

Hello 'Yorkshireman'. Your comment seemed the most succinct and reassuring.
So much so that I contacted my brother to tell him to read the replies. He did. Then he contacted his solicitor and relayed what he had read to her. However she seems quite adamant that if mum's husband doesn't agree then we are back to square one. She says that all four beneficiaries must agree and if not then the house has to go on the open market. Could she be wrong? Could we challenge this solicitor?