Peppercorn agreement

K_potts

Hi my sister and I are purchasing a property for my recently passed away fathers estate as per the instructions in his will.

This is for his partner to live in for life rent free but the house be owned by us and insured an maintained by her.

our solicitor said they can draft up a peppercorn agreement setting out the terms and her maintenance obligations.  I wondered what sort of things we need to include in this agreement ? I was thinking that she isn’t allowed to use it as security for loans etc and can’t sublet, must be insured to our satisfaction etc? We want to be fair and reasonable but also protect our investment and try to consider all eventualities.

Thank you in advance 

greatcrested

Surely your solicitor is best placed to advise?

Not sure how a will can require you to buy anything, whether a house or anything else. You could inherit the house (with conditions eg his partner's rights), but forced to buy it? No.

What does the will say happens to the property if you decline to buy? And who inherits the remainder of the Estate (including the money you've paid for the house)?

GDB2222

I’ve deleted my post. Don’t need this.

eddddy

Your solicitor will probably have a standard template agreement for this kind of thing, which is likely to already include many things that you haven't thought of.

Maybe read that first, and then see if there's anything you want to add - like a 'no subletting clause', if there isn't one already.

(FWIW, nobody can use a house they don't own as security for a loan.)

frogglet

I too don't understand how a will can require you to buy a house.
I think its pretty common for spouses not related to children of the deceased, being allowed to stay in the house for the rest of their lives.  So I'd see a solicitor like said above.
I would add that you need proper legal advice regarding if they need to move into somewhere else as they can't manage in the property you provide for them at this time.

K_potts

Thank you GDB2222 that’s really helpful, we appreciate that she could have someone move in with her but wouldn’t want her not to use as her main home and sublet it out for financial gain ultimately we want it to be her home whilst protecting ourselves and our investment 

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Not sure if you could have anything specific in terms of maintenance other than requiring her to keep it in a good state of repair. There are so many issues it would be impossible to list them all and it could run the risk of something outside of the list not being repaired. I have no experience of this, just thinking in layman's terms so to speak. 

AdrianC

This definitely all sounds very odd. Would you be so kind as to post the exact wording of the will?

It will drastically affect the quality and relevance of the advice you're given.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I am guessing this is a large estate. Selling the current family home will bring in more than your average house sale and potentially the current house is far too big for a little old.lady  to manage by herself. It's really none of our business though, OP did not ask about the will, she asked about the peppercorn agreement. 

frogglet

AdrianC said:

This definitely all sounds very odd. Would you be so kind as to post the exact wording of the will?

It will drastically affect the quality and relevance of the advice you're given.

I can only think its not been explained very well. I think instead of purchasing FOR the estate they mean FROM.

frogglet

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

I am guessing this is a large estate. Selling the current family home will bring in more than your average house sale and potentially the current house is far too big for a little old.lady  to manage by herself. It's really none of our business though, OP did not ask about the will, she asked about the peppercorn agreement. 

I think the wording of the will is very important about what they are being asked to provide and a subsequent contract , and she might not be a little old lady.