Tenants in Common with Mother + Dispute over division of property

jtprobs

Hi all,

My parents owned our property, which they bought for around 40 -50k in 1970.
When my mother remortgaged it (afraid I do not know the value), and built up many debts, I had to pay off all her debts, and the mortgage, as there was a charge on the property - I paid off the 56k mortgage, plus around 70k of other debts.
In return, my father signed over his half of the property to me - so I am joint owner with my mother - as Tenants in Common.
Unfortunately we did not specify the division of the property, but had verbally agreed that I have upstairs, and she has downstairs. However, I kindly allowed her to stay in a bedroom upstairs.
My mother continually complained about the mess my children made in the downstairs kitchen,and told us to build a kitchen upstairs, then she will return to me the upstairs room she was using.
However, a year and a half has passed already, and she still refuses to return that room.
My two young girls have outgrown their beds, and we are unable to fit two beds in the small roof room (the roof/ceiling diagnally cuts half the room space). My bedroom with my wife is the same roof/celing cutting half the space.
So my younger daughter is sharing the bed with my wife, and I am sleeping on the floor.
This has gone on for a year and a half - and my mother has refused every attempt I have made for her to move downstairs.
My mother is currently using over 60% of the house, leaving my of 4 with only 40%, plus she has taken full control of the gardens.
I filled in forms for mediation and arbitration - but she refuses to co-operate, and simply says "take me to court, and bring your friends to watch".

This situation is very bad for the development of my younger daughter, who has been sharing her mother's bed for the last year and a half; and also for my health, sleeping on a very uncomfortable floor space.

Can anyone advice me please on the quickest method of getting the upstairs room back, which will become my daughter's bedroom. Is there something similar to the C100 form that can be used when couples split, and children are involved?

Many thanks,
Kind regards

matttye

You can't divide the property in the way you're suggesting unless you split it into two properties as far as I'm aware.

An element required for a tenancy in common is the unity of possession, which means each of the tenants in common is entitled to possess the entire land and cannot trespass on any part of the land.

Person_one

That's not how tenants in common works at all.

You should probably look at selling up and living in separate places, the current situation sounds completely bonkers. You will probably have to take your mother to court to force a sale though.

Please tell me you haven't put a kitchen upstairs?

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/overview

If you wish to force a sale, you will need a court order.

http://www.howellslegal.co.uk/news/post/FAQ-Series-Can-Tenants-in-Common-Force-a-Sale.aspx

Your father has now died?

It would seem far better for you not to have to share a home with your mother - look into other options for her and for you.

Cheeky_Monkey

Good grief - your mother is a real piece of work isn't she.

I hope you get this sorted ASAP so you can get on with your life and then, if I were you, sever all ties with the mean, ungrateful, selfish old ***

stator

Definitely time you looked at ending this situation and trying to restore some normalcy to your life. ie sell the house and move on.

By the way, if your mother had the debts, why didn't you end up with her half of the house instead of your fathers?

AnotherJoe

This reminds me of the Steptoe and Son episode where they carve up the house into two.

But more seriously I suggest you take up your mother on her request to take her to court. And do that not to decide who gets which room, which is just ridiculous, but to force a sale.

frugalsmurf

Oh goodness.

Yes you definitely need to force a sale and move rather than fit kitchens upstairs and share beds. It sounds a toxic environment for everyone and life's too short.

moneyistooshorttomention

It's coming over to me as your own mother is trying to "ease you out". She wants to have her cake and eat it - ie that you've covered her debts for her but she gets to keep her house = to herself.

She wants you out and is trying to make you "resign of your own free will" - ie that trick that employers usually try on staff they don't require any more BUT it would cost them too much in redundancy money to get rid of them (I'm an ex civil servant - and the Civil Service is a past master at trying that one on its staff - so I'm familiar with the tactics:()

I agree with the others - I think you have two choices basically

- Re-arrange things more appropriately to how much you own of the house whilst she is out ('fraid no allowance due though for the fact you have a family - whilst she is a single person). It's strictly fair shares without taking that into account. Personally - I'd put her bedroom stuff downstairs whilst she was out and put a lock on the door of MY extra bedroom to stop her reversing things. Personally - I'd take over my 50% share of the garden (eg line down the middle and plant my plants in my half). But that's me...and I have had to be very "firm" with trespassing neighbours and did so.

- Go to court and force a sale and use the money you get from it to put towards buying somewhere else for yourself and your family.

The first choice will be messy Big Time and create one heck of a ruckus. The second choice - well you had better look up how much the court process might end up costing you out of your house equity money you are trying to retrieve.

I can't really see a nice peaceful/cheap Option 3 is there on the table - though we might all be overlooking a good bit of lateral thinking that is possible here:cool:

EDIT; Since she is both f*ckless financially and clearly not a nice person - I am wondering whether she might be running up further debts. That possibility does need bearing in mind - just in case she is. Not sure what effect that would have on things - but I guess it means there is a chance that debtors might end up pursuing her for her share of the house and then she would have her own reasons why she wanted to sell. Conclusion = it could be worthwhile trying to suss out whether you think there might be some new debtors hanging around trying to get some of her house equity from her to pay off new debts she has accummulated??

silvercar

Any siblings that could help you negotiate?

princeofpounds

Totally agree with all the other posts so far. You cannot (and neither can she) divide up the possession of the space. So your only options are to physically remove her from various spaces, or to force a sale.


A legal mess is generally always preferably to a physical mess (which in practice would likely go back-and-forth and could get ugly).


Good luck.