Brother not contributing financially now wants to force sale three years on

charliemuppet

Are you suggesting there should be an elaboration of this covenant somewhere Xylophone?

xylophone

Are you suggesting there should be an elaboration of this covenant somewhere Xylophone?

It sounds to me as though you have it in

the proprietor Is not permitted to do,the selling of fried fish,tripe whine spirits and beer ect,there's absolutely nothing pertaining to obligations except the maintainence of a shared /party wall?

For my house/road there is an old covenant concerning the type of buildings that may be erected and an obligation to build and maintain the fence at the end of my garden which separates it from the garden of the house in the next road down.

charliemuppet

Thank you Xylophone, sincerely,you've been a star,moreso than you are probably aware,I just have to make my brother aware of the fact he needs to contribute financially in order to even get this property on the market,which I fear will be another insurmountable task.
Charlie

xylophone

he needs to contribute financially in order to even get this property on the market,

I'm not sure that's the case - you mentioned that he is now anxious to sell, so the pair of you need to instruct an estate agent - the agent doesn't demand fees up front.

You do need to discuss with your solicitor how the sale proceeds will be split, so as to give you at least some compensation for having paid the house bills all this time.

charliemuppet

I've visited my solicitor this afternoon but due to the fact she's a wills and probate solicitor she's put me in touch with her colleague but he is civil litigation which is not a road I'm prepared to go down,I would rather there be a portion of the sale set aside to a neutral third party or something of that nature and expenses be returned from that,would that be a possibility?

xylophone

When you and your brother sell the property, presumably you will be using a solicitor.
He will receive the proceeds of sale. 
Let's say after all expenses there is a net amount of £120,000. Normally you and your brother would receive half each. However, you have been paying the expenses of the property for three years.
You and your brother will need to come to an arrangement in this respect to allow you a higher proportion of the sale proceeds. If your brother is not open to negotiation on a personal basis, then a remedy through the court could be your only option?
If it were explained to your brother that you have the proof of costs (and that a court could well require that he pays any costs of proceedings if he is proving unreasonable), then he might be more inclined to negotiate.

charliemuppet

Thank you again Xylophone,you have my gratitude for providing myself and my family with the best path forward we've had since this difficult time began and my respect for both your honesty and empathy during a period of my life where I have found both to have been scarce
Charlie

Savvy_Sue

charliemuppet said:

I've visited my solicitor this afternoon but due to the fact she's a wills and probate solicitor she's put me in touch with her colleague but he is civil litigation which is not a road I'm prepared to go down,I would rather there be a portion of the sale set aside to a neutral third party or something of that nature and expenses be returned from that,would that be a possibility?

Notwithstanding what xylophone says, what you need for the sale is a solicitor who specialises in conveyancing. If your current solicitor's firm does not have such a specialist, you need to use a different firm for this part of the work. You instruct them to deal with the sale, and what to do with the proceeds. 

charliemuppet

Thank you sue,but wouldn't a conveyor be unlikely to involve themselves in a family dispute?
Charlie

Keep_pedalling

charliemuppet said:

Thank you sue,but wouldn't a conveyor be unlikely to involve themselves in a family dispute?
Charlie

They would certainly not get involved with that, but quite frankly going down the legal route to recover your costs is likely to be throwing good money after bad. Your priority is to get the place sold and be rid of this money pit. What little money was in the estate is now likely to be used up on the legal bills you will already have run up.

it is unfortunate that you have been put in this position through a combination of 2 very poor decisions made by your parents and having a useless brother, but at some point you have to cut your losses.

Get the house sold, and if your brother refuses to pay his share of the costs from his portion of the proceeds you could always try the small claims court. You might not win but you would only run up minimum additional costs.