Beneficiary wanting to buy out other beneficiaries from inherited property

Mojisola

glyndwr1999 wrote: »

I've never sold a house before, so could I market it with an estate agent and see what transpires in the coming days / weeks, then if no offers are made that match the cash offer withdraw the house from the market and proceed privately, is that possible?

The EA contract usually has a clause saying that you have to pay whether they find you a buyer or you find one yourself.

Mojisola

glyndwr1999 wrote: »

And one more question, in the eyes of the stamp duty, would any beneficiary be buying all the house or only 11/12 of the house as technically he already owns 1/12 of it.

Happy to be corrected but the house is still owned by the estate so I think he would have to buy it for the full price.

After all the bills have been paid and so on, the estate would then distribute the inheritance to each beneficiary.

Maybe others would comment on whether you could sell it for the set price minus 1/12.

Yorkshireman99

glyndwr1999 wrote: »

And one more question, in the eyes of the stamp duty, would any beneficiary be buying all the house or only 11/12 of the house as technically he already owns 1/12 of it.
that could then be below the 40k 2nd home stamp duty rate.

Could this be right?

No. The beneficaies each owed 1/12 of the total estate.

Savvy_Sue

Mojisola wrote: »

The EA contract usually has a clause saying that you have to pay whether they find you a buyer or you find one yourself.

That's something you can negotiate though. And you can definitely negotiate the fee if you DO sell through them, although watch out: when we SAW the EA they said commission was normally 3% but they'd only charge 1% for sole rights, when the written contract came through it said 3% ... they changed it when we pointed this out, I don't know if it was a try-on or a genuine mistake.

OP, that's definitely a possible option, but I would make it clear to the EA that you are interested in a quick sale and will withdraw from the market if that's not forthcoming. I'd talk to your brother about this option and check he'd be happy to wait on that basis. And make sure he's not on that EA's books for some reason!

getmore4less

Mojisola wrote: »

Happy to be corrected but the house is still owned by the estate so I think he would have to buy it for the full price.

After all the bills have been paid and so on, the estate would then distribute the inheritance to each beneficiary.

Maybe others would comment on whether you could sell it for the set price minus 1/12.

For SDLT the price is not the relevant value, it is what forms the consideration.

What would need checking is if the amount within the estate due to the purchaser forms part of the consideration.
if that fails next step would be to see if the beneficial interest of 1/12 can be used.

Shouldn't take too long to find the relevant information or could just pay someone to tell you.


Note. you can't use a DOV to make any adjustments.

glyndwr1999

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

OP, that's definitely a possible option, but I would make it clear to the EA that you are interested in a quick sale and will withdraw from the market if that's not forthcoming. I'd talk to your brother about this option and check he'd be happy to wait on that basis. And make sure he's not on that EA's books for some reason!

My brother is happy to wait. It's. A shame the offer has come from my brother, if it was from a different beneficiary I wouldnt be so self conscious and would have probably sold it by now as I do honestly feel a 44k cash offer is very reasonable. When al fees and costs are considered it is the same as the asking price through an ea, because it is my brother I don't need the additional grief of other family members making accusations that are not in this case warranted.

glyndwr1999

getmore4less wrote: »

For SDLT the price is not the relevant value, it is what forms the consideration.

What would need checking is if the amount within the estate due to the purchaser forms part of the consideration.
if that fails next step would be to see if the beneficial interest of 1/12 can be

Thanks, how is the consideration defined, abit lost with that term to be honest. I'll have to research it's meaning.
Thank you

getmore4less

glyndwr1999 wrote: »

Thanks, how is the consideration defined, abit lost with that term to be honest. I'll have to research it's meaning.
Thank you

it is the real value paid not just the cash.

a simple example is a buy out when there is a mortgage.

2 people own a house with a mortgage, one buys out the other by taking on the mortgage no cash changes hands.
The consideration is 1/2 the joint debt.

There are some complex anti avoidance SDLT laws to try and stop hidden considerations, aimed at big complex deals but do capture some of the smaller ones.

Yours is fairly straightforward does the money in the estate count or not.

getmore4less

glyndwr1999 wrote: »

My brother is happy to wait. It's. A shame the offer has come from my brother, if it was from a different beneficiary I wouldnt be so self conscious and would have probably sold it by now as I do honestly feel a 44k cash offer is very reasonable. When al fees and costs are considered it is the same as the asking price through an ea, because it is my brother I don't need the additional grief of other family members making accusations that are not in this case warranted.

You could approach an EA with a deal and be honest, you have an offer on the table do they think they can better it.

say 4 weeks to find a buyer and if they do they get x% if not a token say £500.

Brother can then decide if he wants to match.


The term you are looking for with your concern over close family being the buyer is "self dealing".

glyndwr1999

thanks for that further info,

Not sure if the money in the estate counts. There was a sum of money in the deceased account.
Tax law is so complex, but simplistically does he have to buy the whole house only to get 1/12 back or pay just 11/12 as he already is entitled to 1/12 via the will.
The saving of sdlt is around £1300, not a massive amount but still a great deal of money if it's not actually payable.