Selling Share of Property

ben9090

My wifes mother died 10 years ago without a will. She lived with her son and they owned their house 50:50.
Her share was split between her 5 kids including my wife.
The brother who now has 60% still lives there and my wife wants to sell her share to him. Its worth around 21k. it will be a simple cash transaction.
Does anyone know what legal work needs to be carried out? Ive tried my regular solicitor but i presumne they are too busy and wont take it on. Does it need a solcitor or can we fill in the forms?
Thanks for your help.
Ben

xylophone

What is shown on the Register regarding the ownership of the property?

ben9090

Thanks for your response, Ive checked and it still shows the original purchasers, nothing has been updated to reflect the death of one of the owners or redistribution.

xylophone

Mother and son definitely owned the property as tenants-in-common (rather than as joint tenants)?

getmore4less

On the assumption that the mother was in a position to will her share. 

did the will give the joint owner any life interest (ie the right to live in that share?

if it did then the 5 kids don't own anything from that share  they are remaindermen of a trust that owns the legal title and the brother has beneficial interest while alive.

if not then any shares  can be sold with a CGT assesment if they have not been living there.

Good time to update the legal title with trustee or owners so there is more than one owners, makes it easier if the current sole ownershould die. 

Marcon

getmore4less said:

On the assumption that the mother was in a position to will her share. 

did the will give the joint owner any life interest (ie the right to live in that share?

OP says there was no will.

OP - before going any further, I'd check and ask why they won't act. It's extremely rare for a firm to decline to act for an established client just because 'they are too busy' - commercially it would be extremely foolish to decline on those grounds.

Did someone apply for letters of administration in respect of your MIL's estate? If not, they need to do so now so that the property can be correctly registered in the names of the new owners.

There could be Capital Gains Tax to pay depending on the value of the house at the time your MIL died and the value now.

xylophone

Did someone apply for letters of administration in respect of your MIL's estate? If not, they need to do so now so that the property can be correctly registered in the names of the new owners.

If mother and son were joint tenants, then regardless of intestacy, the house passed by survivorship to the son, so LoA would have made no difference. He  could have had mother's name removed by application to the LR.

https://www.gov.uk/update-property-records-someone-dies

If they were tenants-in -common, then while mother's beneficial share would have fallen to be dealt with under the rules of intestacy  ( to offspring if no spouse),sole legal ownership  devolved upon the son and only he (not the administrators of mother's will) had the right to deal with any transfer of ownership to other parties.

See https://www.land-registry-documents.co.uk/information/joint-ownership-tennants/

getmore4less

Marcon said:

getmore4less said:

On the assumption that the mother was in a position to will her share. 

did the will give the joint owner any life interest (ie the right to live in that share?

OP says there was no will.

can ignore my life interest comments.

Same rules apply to intestate distribution the deceased needed to be in a position to will the asset.,
this assumes no living spouse.


If the property was joint the brother could have severed the tenancy and done a DOV post death.

ben9090

Thanks everyone. Might need to do a bit more digging whther they were tenants in common or joint tenants. The Brother in Law is disabled so he cant have done anything. My wife and sister in law actually have power of attorney.
Its all very complicated, none of the rest of the family are very clued up with money and are happy to just have it sat there. My wife and myself are a little more ambitious and have lots of investments and property, we just find it fustrating that what Im led to believe is her share is just sat there doing nothing (other then increasing in line with property prices) 

xylophone

Might need to do a bit more digging whther they were tenants in common or joint tenants.

You have checked the entry at the LR - is a Form A restriction shown?

https://help.landregistry.gov.uk/app/social/questions/detail/qid/42/~/joint-ownership---tenants-in-common---which-am-i?

poppystar

Given that your wife has power of attorney for the brother and as such has an interest in both sides of the transaction I think you will have to be very careful and document every step including the valuation of that share so that it is clear that she hasn’t benefitted by being the PoA.