When does a beneficiary have to commit to taking a property via appropriation?

lulabel5

One beneficiary has the option to appropriate a residential property from an estate (there are two beneficiaries in total) The solicitor is currently trying to get the beneficiary to say that they will commit to appropriating the property before the final valuation of the property (ie: the sale value after probate has been granted) has been decided; however the beneficiary won't commit until that value has been decided.
Which one is right? Can the beneficiary wait, or (as the solicitor is implying) do they have to commit before the final value has been worked out?

Very grateful for your feedback.

maximumgardener

its an option ...so why would they commit before having all the required information they need to make their decision?

they are certainly going to need a valuation and so is the estate at some point if property is to be sold

is it likely/possible the beneficiary with the option to appropriate the property , may decide not to exercise their option?

Yorkshireman99

lulabel5 wrote: »

One beneficiary has the option to appropriate a residential property from an estate (there are two beneficiaries in total) The solicitor is currently trying to get the beneficiary to say that they will commit to appropriating the property before the final valuation of the property (ie: the sale value after probate has been granted) has been decided; however the beneficiary won't commit until that value has been decided.
Which one is right? Can the beneficiary wait, or (as the solicitor is implying) do they have to commit before the final value has been worked out?

Very grateful for your feedback.

The solicitor is being unreasonable. A professional valuation by a RICS or similar is needed. Nobody can b expected to give an open ended commitment like this.

lulabel5

Many thanks to both of you for your replies.

Probate was granted two weeks ago but HMRC has not agreed the probate value of the property yet, so it is not yet known whether there will be more IHT to pay. The solicitor is saying that it might 'take some months' for HMRC to do this, and is using this delay as a reason for the beneficiary to commit to appropriating (or not) the property now.

getmore4less

If it were me I would say this is what I will pay NOW whatever the future valuation turns out to be

Then the solicitor will have to get the the other beneficiary to agree.

The real issue is as soon as the house is handed over the costs belong to the new beneficial owner not the estate in the mean time the costs of running the house will be shared(unless occupied already.

Another option is get it on the market.