What happens if,

Mojisola

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

Is this really do-able (and I mean that in a genuine way)?

What I mean to say is, won't someone knock on his door one day and tell him in years to come, that he is responsible for a ramshackle house, miles away?

No. If someone takes on the role of executor/administrator and informs him that he is a beneficiary then he can decide to accept his inheritance or he can refuse it.

He has no legal responsibility to either sort out the estate or accept an inheritance.

As the house holds such bad memories for him, why stir everything up?

If the potential financial gain would be worth the hassle, there is advice above about ways to proceed.

If he decides to do so and the estate is insolvent or has very little in it, it could end up costing him money.

pickledonionspaceraider

Thanks Mojisola

he wasn't sure if he would have a legal responsibility to deal with everything. That is a very helpful post, thanks

He was hoping to not have to deal with any of it - and now he knows there is no legal responsibility to do anything - it is likely he won't

He wanted to just leave the house to decay-I think. But wasn't sure if he would get into trouble for doing so.

Thank you for all the help, all

getmore4less

Any other relatives that might be interested,

Maybe a previous spouse and some went into trust.

Is the place standalone as attached neighbours might have an interest in at least keeping it water tight.

You did not say how the relative was found often if someone dies in hospital with no know relative the estate gets referred to the BV list and then the heir hunters pick it up or the hospital gives a HH a head start..

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list

Has anyone done an estimate of the value of the house?