Action of Divison

Jjamie

Hello! I co own a house with my dad. I live in the property with my two young kids. I have a mortgage offer in place as he has said he will sell. He has ignored all correspondence since August and I’m wondering if an action of division is the next step? Would a judge take into considering that I am willing to to offer him his 50% share? 

davidmcn

Which country are we talking about? Have you had any legal advice so far? Has the correspondence specifically threatened court action as the next step?

Jjamie

Hello! I’m in Scotland. Yes I have had legal advice, as it’s been on going for a while. He seems to be completely ignoring the matter. We’ve sent four letters stating I want to purchase the house at 50% of the value and the only response was that he was “considering it” and that was in august. He has ignored all correspondence since and I feel we will need to threaten court action. 

davidmcn

So...what was the advice you got? I think the difficulty will be that an action for division and sale can only order that the whole property be sold, not that you're entitled to buy out the other party's share. In practice (given that a forced sale is likely to result in a lower than market price, and nobody wants to pay for unnecessary legal costs as well) you may just need to be more forceful in the threats.

Jjamie

What would you reccomend doing next? My solicitor doesn’t seem consider as the property is currently mortgage free so I’m technically sitting rent and mortgage free, but I want to buy him out for our own security and to not have him having a hold over us . Would a judge  not take into considering that i am willing to buy his share? Property is valued at £80k which my dad doesn’t feel is enough 

steampowered

The normal result of an "Action for Sale" would be that the property is sold.

Ask your lawyer, but I'm not sure you can force him to sell your share to you.

Why do you want to do this? If you are living in the property but only own 50%, and you aren't paying rent to your dad, that's actually a very good deal - since you could put the money that would have been wasted on mortgage interest into a stocks & shares ISA.

Jjamie

Hello, I would like the security of owning the full house. It needs work done and I’m not wanting to throw money at a house he may then sell in a years time. My income is low and I may not always be in a position to get a mortgage. My dad was pretty abusive towards me in front of my kids and I don’t want to live in constant fear that he will turn up. I don’t understand why he won’t agree to sell other than it being a control thing. 

davidmcn

Jjamie said:

Would a judge  not take into considering that i am willing to buy his share? Property is valued at £80k which my dad doesn’t feel is enough 

I don't think it's competent for the judge to order it though - only that the property be sold. They can't make up the law as they go along. You can always point out to your dad that it's going to fetch even less as a forced sale.

Jjamie

Hello, the solicitor has tried to point out that if the sale is forced it will fetch less money. He still hasn’t responded to that either 

MEM62

Jjamie said:

He has ignored all correspondence since and I feel we will need to threaten court action. 

That is unlikely to defuse the situation.  Have you considered picking up the phone?  

Jjamie

Hello, due to the fact he is pretty aggressive I don’t think I could speak with him over the phone. He’s very controlling