Possible dispute over jointly inherited house

sammyjammy

I think the idea of selling the house and having a first charge on his new house/flat for say £30k would work, you get most of your inheritance and a guarantee of the rest of it at some stage.  Having a charge on his house is very different to part owning it with all the responsibility associated with it, would £100k buy him something suitable?

DepositSaver

sammyjammy said:

I think the idea of selling the house and having a first charge on his new house/flat for say £30k would work, you get most of your inheritance and a guarantee of the rest of it at some stage.  Having a charge on his house is very different to part owning it with all the responsibility associated with it, would £100k buy him something suitable?

Yes £100,000 would get his something suitable. 
He's being very impatient about everything at the moment. I spoke to the solicitor yesterday, and confirmed that it is ok for my brother and I to suggest options other that "sell the house and spilt the proceeds equally" and "co-own the house". Solicitor sent an email to us both saying that to administer the Estate according to the Will, the property would need to be sold and the sale proceeds split between us, and that before they take instructions from us to deal with the estate we need to agree whether the house is to be sold or transferred into our name. It also mentioned that if we can't decide we may wish to take independent legal advice. This all seems pretty standard to me?

My brother messaged me pretty much immediately saying that we need to talk ASAP to discuss the email, so I told him when I am free to talk, tried to reassure him that we are able to suggest other options to the solicitor, and said it might take time and a few discussions to come to an agreement as we both need to think about and research the options, and there needs to be some thought given to whether maintenance and upkeep of the house would be affordable for him/us. His response to that has been that if we can't agree by Monday (as in Monday coming) he will be seeking advice from his solicitor on Tuesday. He says he is "giving me fair warning of his intentions".

I feel as if he thinks him seeking legal advice is some sort of threat, and that it will scare or worry me into agreeing to his preferred option, when actually I'm sure it would be perfectly normal for us to both seek legal advice if we can't agree. I have no idea what he thinks a solicitor is going to do or say that would cause me to be worried about him talking to one. 

Flabbergasted_in_Poole

I suspect the reason why your brother does not want the sale of the house is that will effectively increase his finances which will exclude him from receiving state support.  I am sure he will be able to find a place to live with his cut of the sale, and still be able to claim again as long as its below the margin set by the .gov, and probably have a smaller and newer insulated property.  That's assuming he hasn't used the property as surance  on a loan or equity release scheme.   

DepositSaver

sammyjammy said:

I think the idea of selling the house and having a first charge on his new house/flat for say £30k would work, you get most of your inheritance and a guarantee of the rest of it at some stage.  Having a charge on his house is very different to part owning it with all the responsibility associated with it, would £100k buy him something suitable?

Forgot to say, yes this does potentially seem the best option.
Can I just check, as the will specifically does not mention the house, so we haven't been left the actual house, we've been left half of the estate, I can't be forced to have half of it transferred into my name can I?  So if my brother refuses for it to be sold, he can't insist on it being transferred into both our name and me owning half of it? 

Also, is it correct that I can't force the sale without going to court (as per this article https://www.webuyanyhome.com/can-siblings-force-the-sale-of-inherited-property/)  Or does that only apply if the house has specifically been left to us, or if has already been transferred into our names ? Not that I would have any intention of going to court, just want to be sure of the legalities. 

gettingtheresometime

sammyjammy said:

I think the idea of selling the house and having a first charge on his new house/flat for say £30k would work, you get most of your inheritance and a guarantee of the rest of it at some stage.  Having a charge on his house is very different to part owning it with all the responsibility associated with it, would £100k buy him something suitable?

That would seem a suitable alternative but how would that work in practice? I'm just thinking how could the OP protect the element that has been 'lent' to to the brother?

xylophone

I'm just thinking how could the OP protect the element that has been 'lent' to to the brother?

As has been said, he takes a "first charge" on the property.

This is recorded at the Land Registry just as it is when your mortgagee lends you money to buy a property.

First Charge A legal charge used to secure the main mortgage. A lender with a first legal charge over a property has a first call on any funds available from the sale of the property.

xylophone

Solicitor sent an email to us both saying that to administer the Estate according to the Will, the property would need to be sold and the sale proceeds split between us, and that before they take instructions from us to deal with the estate we need to agree whether the house is to be sold or transferred into our name. 

Is this the solicitor acting for the executor?

Sea_Shell

xylophone said:

I'm just thinking how could the OP protect the element that has been 'lent' to to the brother?

As has been said, he takes a "first charge" on the property.

This is recorded at the Land Registry just as it is when your mortgagee lends you money to buy a property.

First Charge A legal charge used to secure the main mortgage. A lender with a first legal charge over a property has a first call on any funds available from the sale of the property.

One problem I can forsee with this is what if the property is neglected to the point of adversely affecting its value?


Would you be looking to protect an actual sum, in £££, or a percentage?

Maybe if the above us a risk, a defined amount would be better?   Obviously you wouldn't then benefit from any increase in value!

gettingtheresometime

xylophone said:

I'm just thinking how could the OP protect the element that has been 'lent' to to the brother?

As has been said, he takes a "first charge" on the property.

This is recorded at the Land Registry just as it is when your mortgagee lends you money to buy a property.

First Charge A legal charge used to secure the main mortgage. A lender with a first legal charge over a property has a first call on any funds available from the sale of the property.

Sorry I'm not explaining myself very well. I understand the charge bit but what would be the process that the Op could follow to safeguard their share ? Would it be a case of doing a deed of variation and hope the brother stuck to his word, or would it be that the OP 'gifted' the brother the inheritance at the time of purchase whilst putting a charge over the house simultaneously?

DepositSaver

xylophone said:

Solicitor sent an email to us both saying that to administer the Estate according to the Will, the property would need to be sold and the sale proceeds split between us, and that before they take instructions from us to deal with the estate we need to agree whether the house is to be sold or transferred into our name. 

Is this the solicitor acting for the executor?

No, the executor has renounced. We are now wanting the the solicitor who was going to act for the executor, to administer the estate. He has said we need to first agree whether the house is to be sold or or transferred into our names (or something else) before they can deal with the estate.