House Sale without permission?

theshoefairy

When my mother passed, my stepfather moved into their shared house, otherwise he would have had nowhere to go. I was advised to sell the house upon my mothers death and claim half then, but there is no way I would have done that to him. So he lived there, until he passed in June.

lincroft1710

Obviously, there was a good reason but why did your mother buy a house jointly with your stepfather, but they both lived in the house you now live in. Was the house let out?

pumas

theshoefairy said:

When my mother passed, my stepfather moved into their shared house, otherwise he would have had nowhere to go. I was advised to sell the house upon my mothers death and claim half then, but there is no way I would have done that to him. So he lived there, until he passed in June.

But who inherited her share? Why is her name still on deeds?
Even if you inherited her share, you wouldn't have been able to sell without stepfather agreeing to sell.

theshoefairy

I assume me as I am her next of kin and they were tenants in common on the deeds? This is what I am trying to establish. 

She was still on the deeds as it was understood by both her and my step father that I would inherit her share.

pumas

theshoefairy said:

I assume me as I am her next of kin and they were tenants in common on the deeds? This is what I am trying to establish. 

She was still on the deeds as it was understood by both her and my step father that I would inherit her share.

You can't assume!
Do you mean that you've not sorted out your mother's estate? Who is on the deeds for the house you live in?

theshoefairy

I have sorted my mothers estate for the house I am now in. 

lincroft1710

theshoefairy said:

I have sorted my mothers estate for the house I am now in. 

So did your mother leave you the that house in her will? If so what did it say about the jointly owned house?

theshoefairy

There was a will but unfortunately she neglected to sign in with a witness. The will was made before he had any interest in the jointly owned property anyway.

user1977

theshoefairy said:

There was a will but unfortunately she neglected to sign in with a witness. The will was made before he had any interest in the jointly owned property anyway.

What steps did you take to establish that she hadn't made a later Will?

pinkshoes

OK, so your mum owned a property as tenants in common (50%?) with her partner.

They were NOT married.

The will was not signed so invalid, which means she died intestate? (and what did the will that she intended to sign actually say about her share of the house?)

In which case, the next of kin to inherit would be you, so you owned the other half of the house with her partner, and you let him live there.

Since then, the partner has died and his two sons (who were not close to their dad) have inherited his share.

I imagine the two sons have no idea that their dad only owned half, so put it up for sale thinking he owned it all. Not everyone things to download the deeds. 

That just means that all you need to do is contact the EA, let them know they are selling a property that they are not able to sell without your permission, and thus your own solicitor will need to be involved in the sale so half the profits go to you.

But... as it is looking like your mum died intestate and the deeds were not transferred into your name, then this is potentially going to put a spanner in the works over the sale and make it take much longer.

I would suggest getting in touch with the partner's two sons and meeting them for tea and cake to discuss.