Pasture Land Left in will

FizzerUK

Hi,

First what a great forum this is and i have been able to find most of my questions answered regard, will and probate.. but 1 thing I am still unsure of.

My mother passed away recently and has left the house and a small piece of land to my sister and me.

We are going through the process of probate ourselves as the only complicated piece of the inheritance is the land.

1.1 acres of pasture land that needs to be split 50/50

The house is being valued and I am buying my sisters half.

The land I am still a bit confused about.

Any pointers to good guides on this appreciated. Not wanting to be spoon feed.

Keep_pedalling

Do either of you want to keep the land?

xylophone

This is agricultural land?

Trooper21

They aren't making more land. Keep it, will probably increase in value. PLus you may have some income off it for grazing if agricultural.

tacpot12

You can both own the land as joint owners. This means that if one of you were to die, the other would automatically become the sole owner of the land, but while you are alive you are both entitled to receive the income from the land. 

Owning the land will come with some responsibilites, so selling it and splitting the proceeds would be the obvious step if you didn't want to have to have these responsibilities. 

Mojisola

Why doesn't your sister take full ownership of the land - her share of the house will then be reduced and you won't have to find so much to buy her out. 

FizzerUK

Apologies for delay in responses.
Just finished with the funeral etc.. Busy times. :-( Completly forgot about this post until I came back and did a search.

We plan to keep the land split 50/50. keep it on in case it becomes availible for buliding.

I can not find it on the land registry there is only reference to it in the will as a size in acres and the OS co-ordiantes of the 3 strips that make it up.
Asking relations that share the 4 acres (which we have 1 acre of) and no-one has the deeds.
My Mum was always the opne to organise stuff for the family being the oldest.

Filling in the HMRC Tax Estate Report so we can apply for probate , will I need to get it surveyed and valued or can I put the most value an acre it is worth as aruable.

If I do need to value it who does this?

Many thanks for your suggestions. Really helps during these difficult times.

RedMonty

FizzerUK said:

I can not find it on the land registry there is only reference to it in the will as a size in acres and the OS co-ordiantes of the 3 strips that make it up.
Asking relations that share the 4 acres (which we have 1 acre of) and no-one has the deeds.
My Mum was always the opne to organise stuff for the family being the oldest.

Filling in the HMRC Tax Estate Report so we can apply for probate , will I need to get it surveyed and valued or can I put the most value an acre it is worth as aruable.

If I do need to value it who does this?

No deeds could be an issue. If you're able to, give the Land Registry a ring and ask them about deeds / proving ownership.  You might need to pay some small fees for this. Worth it. 

No need to contact a solicitor at this point, they'll charge you for their time ringing the Land Registry.  If you get really stuck, then contact a conveyancer, preferably a local one. This is everyday work for them. 

You need an independent valuation for Probate. Go to a local estate agents, ideally one that also sells farmland (if not, ask the agent or ask a couple of local farmers about who around your area sells farmland) and ask them for a valuation for probate purposes. Probably need to pay a small fee, & you'll get a brief letter with a value. This is everyday work for them. Send a copy of that letter to HMRC if needed. 

Land_Registry

You rarely need to ring us as all the information is online
If you need to check if the land is registered then make a postal search of the index map 
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-index-map
The online service only shows you registered information 
If it’s unregistered and you can’t find the deeds then see our PG2 for guidance 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registration-of-title-where-deeds-have-been-lost-or-destroyed

Certainly something to consider with a conveyancer. Whilst you don’t have to use one they are familiar with dealing with such things