Advice on tennants in common

josephina7470

My 80 year old father bought a house last year with my stepmother. Previously they had been joint tennants in their last house, but this time she strongly suggested that they become tennants in common and that my father should have some 'spending money' of his own and that in exchange she would takeover the majority share of the house, leaving him with a minute interest. My father went along with this without consulting my brother or myself and he signed over the majority of the house to my stepmother and was given 100k by her (the house is worth at least 500k).

My father is now regretting what he has done and does not know how to rectify the situation without seriously affecting his relationship with my stepmother. He is very frail both physically and mentally and is addicted to strong painkillers due to a chronic back problem. He is on a cocktail of pills, some of which contain opiates and he also has pills for anxiety. This makes him very out of it most of the time and he is away with the fairies and sits sleeping in an armchair for most of the day, whilst she does her own thing and goes out and about. He would agree to anything that gives him an easy life with her as she is very dominating and gives him a hard time a lot of the time. She has even said to me that she wants to 'throttle him' a lot of the time! I am very worried about what to do next. He is almost afraid of her.

Firstly, is there anything that he can do to change the tennants in common agreement without my stepmother being there? I suspect not. Also, can he put in his will that he wants to give 50% of the house to the beneficiary of his estate and if he did would this over-ride the tennants in common agreement? I really don't know what to do. I suspect that my stepbrother put my stepmother up to this as he has several properties and it would be in his interest to do so as he is my stepmothers beneficiary. My father has also not thought about what would happen if he needs to go into care and how he would fund this if his share of the house has pretty much all gone to her. He has not thought about what would happen in the unlikely event that my stepmother dies first (she is in her seventies) and the house would belong to her son who could then ask him to leave potentially.

I am desperate for advice please as I think that he has been pressured into signing an agreement that he would never had signed if he had been fully informed of all the outcomes and had not been on strong painkillers and a cocktail of pills which affect his state of mind. Thank you!

margaretclare

Log on to the Land Registry site for advice on changing either from tenants-in-common to joint tenants, or from joint tenancy to tenancy-in-common.

Regarding your father's will, it is his will, and he can put in it whatever he pleases. That's why it's called a 'will' i.e. in the old meaning of the word 'I will it' therefore it is what I intend to do.

He needs legal advice from a qualified solicitor to answer these questions and to put his wishes into practice.

Don't bet on whether a younger person will survive an older, sicker person. There are no guarantees in this life!

onlyroz

Many people are now advising that owning a property as tenants in common is the preferable way. See here:


http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1594984/Tenants-common.html


It means that "his" 50% is now safe, and he can bequest it to whoever he likes in his will.


I expect that you'd be able to get more technical advice about the pros and cons of each method if you posted on the housing forum.

TBagpuss

He can't leave 50% in his will as at present, he doesn't have 50%. Writing his will in that way would not change the shares he and his wife have.

He can't change the shares they have under the tenancy in common unilaterally, it can only be done by agreement with his wife.

If he decides that he no longer wishes to be married to her, then a court could adjust the shares as part of any divorce settlement.

What proportion do they each currently hold, and what has he done with the £100K she paid him?

If he is asswerting that he agreed to the transfer under duress than he may be able to argue that it should be set aside, but agian, he can't do that without his wife's knowledge.

Mojisola

josephina7470 wrote: »

My father went along with this without consulting my brother or myself and he signed over the majority of the house to my stepmother and was given 100k by her (the house is worth at least 500k).

onlyroz wrote: »

Many people are now advising that owning a property as tenants in common is the preferable way. See here:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1594984/Tenants-common.html

It means that "his" 50% is now safe, and he can bequest it to whoever he likes in his will.

He doesn't have 50% of the house.

It sounds as if his wife has conned him out of a lot of money by swapping £100k for the majority ownership of a £500k house.

josephina - your father needs legal advice.

onlyroz

Mojisola wrote: »

He doesn't have 50% of the house.

It sounds as if his wife has conned him out of a lot of money by swapping £100k for the majority ownership of a £500k house.

josephina - your father needs legal advice.

Ah, missed that bit.

Bean83

Did they each put in 50% to buy the house in the first place, or did the wife put in more money? If they each put in an equal amount, why did he agree to reduce his share? How much do they each own now, and does the £100k he was given reflect this?

Mojisola

josephina7470 wrote: »

He is very frail both physically and mentally and is addicted to strong painkillers due to a chronic back problem. He is on a cocktail of pills, some of which contain opiates and he also has pills for anxiety.

She has even said to me that she wants to 'throttle him' a lot of the time! I am very worried about what to do next. He is almost afraid of her.

You could put forward the argument that he wasn't competent to sign over the bulk of his share of the house because of the medication he is on and that he was under undue pressure from someone he is feels threatened by.

As well as sorting out the house ownership, your father should move to somewhere he feels safe and start divorce proceedings.

It would be worth talking to AgeUK and http://elderabuse.org.uk/

margaretclare

Mojisola wrote: »

You could put forward the argument that he wasn't competent to sign over the bulk of his share of the house because of the medication he is on and that he was under undue pressure from someone he is feels threatened by.

As well as sorting out the house ownership, your father should move to somewhere he feels safe and start divorce proceedings.

It would be worth talking to AgeUK and http://elderabuse.org.uk/

It does sound as if he is in an abusive relationship. Notwithstanding all his physical difficulties, one could only suggest that - if he were able to - he should run as far and as fast as he could. Yes, I know he cannot. But equally, he's not happy with the situation as it is.