Can you NOT sell a house to someone?

sortofwinning

This is a story that could only happen in my family.


My mum co-owns a second house with her sister, who has undiagnosed dementia. My mum wants to sell the house before her sister gets any worse, as her sister/my aunt could end up allowing all her nieces and nephews and their kids to use the house, and there are *many* of them. Some of those nieces and nephews are not the most considerate, some are blatantly inconsiderate, and it will fall to me to be the one doing all the cleaning up, as my mum is elderly and is not fit to do it.


But one of my mum's/aunt's nephews is quite well off and would like to buy the house as a second home. He has already told my mum this on more than one occasion. The problem is that my mum is none too pleased with this nephew, as he is currently trying to force his uncle - my mum's brother - out of the business he shares with him. My mum does not want to state outright that she will not sell the house to this nephew, because she does not want to hurt this nephew's dad/her other brother, who has a very, very tough life with this nephew's mum. It would cause a very big argument.


This nephew really wants to get his hands on the house. Is there any way my mum can sell this house, but not to her nephew, legally and without being obvious about it and causing yet more feuds within the family? There are plenty already.

lincroft1710

Unless your mother has Power of Attorney over her sister's affairs, she cannot sell the house without your sister's agreement.

anselld

Legally yes, secretly no. She would have no answer to a direct offer to buy from the nephew.

Why not sell at auction? At least then the decision is out of her hands. If the Nephew bids and wins so be it, at least Mum didn't make the decision herself.

jackieblack

If he's prepared to pay market value, why does it matter?
If not, she can just say that she's not prepared to sell it for less.

Argghhh

put it on the market 25% higher see if he meets it

Linton

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Unless your mother has Power of Attorney over her sister's affairs, she cannot sell the house without your sister's agreement.

And if she does have PoA she is obliged to act in her sisters best interests, which presumably means getting the best price.

TBagpuss

Yes, you never *have* to accept an offer, but:
- the house is owned jointly, so your mum and aunt need to agree what to do.
- if the nephew wants to buy the house and is willing to pay a full open market value, why try to prevent that? What's the point? They would not be doing the nephew a favor, or rewarding him - it would be a straight financial transaction, with the bonus that they would save on estate agents fees.
So what if she is 'none too pleased' with him - would she expect to carry out a moral background check on any potential buyer?

And if her concern is that the uncle will see her as choosing sides then let all of the family know that you will putting the house on the open market and will accept the best offer received.

brodawel

People often say they will buy something, until they realise they are not getting it cheap.

getmore4less

How is the house being used now?

why could these family members just use the place and leave it in a mess.

if mum is not happy, she should sell to the highest offer why worry who that is if the plan is to no longer be involved in the place.

any CGT issues to deal with?

nose cut face spite

G_M

Re the sister, as has been ponted out, either
* she needs to agree the sale (seems unlikely unless she's coerced since she has dementia), or
* someone with POA has to act for her, and in her best interests. Does anyone have POA over her financial affairs?

Re the sale, is there a hurry over the sale? If not, as Argghhh says why not put it on the market at an inflated price? If the nephew agrees to pay, great, mum and, more importantly, her sister, get a better deal.

But more likely the nephew will not agree. The price can then be dropped later, perhaps quietly via the agents, and a sale agreed to someone else.

elsien

Undiagnosed dementia?
If it's not diagnosed it could be any number of things, surely?