Will help - property

rejami1

Hi, hoping someone can help give me a bit of clarity on a situation which I'll try to outline as best as possible.

Me and my sister are sole beneficiaries of my dads will. The executor has renounced so we are administering the estate ourselves. My dad owned his home outright.

The will states all of his assets should  'sell call in and convert into money'.

The will was written when I was 5 and so at the time everything would have been converted to money and held in trust however I now wish to own the house. Does the wording of the will mean it would need to be sold? Could I essentially buy the house and use my half as a deposit so the house is essentially being sold? 

I'm going out of my mind with worry that I won't be approved for the full mortage and it seems bonkers I would have to purchase the house at full price for half to be paid back to me.

Thanks in advance for any help

tacpot12

There should be no need to sell the property if you want to buy half from your sister and are doing so at a market rate.

I would suggest you get three estate agents to give you privately a valuation.

Make sure you can get a mortgage for half the average of these valuations. 

I think you should then check with a solicitor (if you don't get an answer here) whether the wording the will means that you need to have a Deed of Variation to allow you to not sell the property to a third-party. Just bear in mind that they have a conflict of interest, in that if they tell you you need a Deed of Variation and you don't, they they get to charge you to create the Deed. In theory, this should mean you have a valid complaint against them as they should not be giving you incorrect advice that you need something when you do not.

I would suggest that if you can get a mortgage, you and your sister should then pay a RICS surveyor for a professional valuation and if the professional valuation isbelow the estate agent (EA)  average valuation, you agree to pay your sister a price that is half way between the professional valuation and the EA average valuation. If the professional valuation is higher than the EA average valuation, agree you will pay her the professional valuation. This keeps things as fair as they can be and honours your dad's wishes that his wealth be split equally between you.  

JGB1955

What does your sister want to happen?  If she's happy for you to buy her out for 50% of the value of the house, then I don't anticipate a problem.  If it's less than 2 years since your father died you can both draw up your own (joint) deed of variation, changing any stipulations in the will as you agree.