Inherited property

Savvy_Sue

Sundaymorning6 said:

Savvy_Sue said:

Am I right in thinking that what you're proposing is living with your sibling, but expecting your sibling to move out when your children need separate rooms?

If they can't do so now, what's magically going to change in the next few years?

I'd take some advice, but it would be far better to sell and each move on independently. If your sibling won't, a court ordered sale might be a possibility. 

No not me living there. Sibling wants to continue living there. At some point their children will need another room (trying not to be outing here) as are opposite sexes. So I don’t see how they could stay. 

It's often less than ideal, but there are no laws against teenage siblings of the opposite sex sharing a room, and there are many ways of making a 2 bedroomed house 'work' in that situation, so I honestly wouldn't hold your breath that if you buy and rent to them that they will somehow find the means and the will to move. (If separate dining room and lounge, convert one of them to bedroom for parents, or parents have a folding bed if there's only one downstairs room. Convert the loft if feasible. Partition a bedroom. And so on.)

Sundaymorning6 said:

I don’t mind to buy it because honestly forcing to sell would be an absolute nightmare - I can’t tell you how I it was so simple. But is it feasible if I buy it and  they stay living there. 

If you buy it, and they stay living there, presumably paying you rent, you will be their landlord, and will have all the responsibilities of this, which are many and varied. (Have a look at the stickies on the housing board for starters.)

If they need to claim benefits to help with their rent - either now or in the future - it will be more difficult, because unsurprisingly local authorities look very carefully at family members as landlords. It's not impossible to convince them that this is a proper commercial arrangement, but it's certainly not easy. 

If they fail to pay rent, you will be faced with the delights of court action leading to eviction. Could you steel yourself to do this? Were they paying your mother a market rent? Reliably? 

You will have to get a 'buy to let' mortgage, which will almost certainly be more expensive to service (higher interest rates) and more difficult to obtain. You will lose all the advantages of a first-time buyer when you want to buy your own property. 

Mojisola said:

Depending on the exact wording of the will, couldn't you, as the executor, sell the property. 
As the house isn't in your joint names, do you need your sibling's agreement?

I'd take some proper advice on this suggestion (in other words, see a solicitor, or see if you have legal cover on your home insurance or through union membership, although that may not cover 'proper' advice).

Because my reasoning is:

• there was no will, but you are the personal representative, which is the equivalent of being the executor. That gives you more authority than your sibling, unless you applied and were appointed jointly. 
• The estate must be divided equally between you, therefore either one of you must give the other half the value of the house, OR the house must be sold in order to divide its value between you. 
• You don't have to divide the house equally if there are other assets which you can offset against the value of the house, eg if your late mother had cash / money in bank accounts / valuable antiques or paintings which would enable you to keep all of those in exchange for your sibling having all the house. I'm guessing she didn't (most of us don't). 
• Both the house and the other assets can be divided unequally, as long as the overall value is equal. So if the house is worth £200,000, and other assets are worth £100,00, then your sibling would only have to obtain a mortgage for £50,000. 

It may perhaps be necessary to ask the solicitor to write to your sibling setting out what the legal position is (and it may not be as I have described it!) But IF you have the legal authority to sell the house, then you should make it clear that either they buy your half, or it goes on the open market. You give deadlines, you offer what support you can (there's a wealth of information on this site, eg about using a mortgage broker when you're not in an ideal situation), but you stand firm. 

Note that you're asking the solicitor for help with a particular aspect of the estate, not to act on your behalf to evict your sibling and sell the house ... 

Of course, what action you take will depend on how good your relationship with your sibling is, and how good you want it to be in the future. A reasonable person would understand that acting as landlord to your sibling may not be a bundle of laughs and that if a mortgage is unattainable then selling and splitting the proceeds will put you in a better position than many enjoy right now. But not all siblings are reasonable ... 

msb1234

This sounds like it has the potential to be very messy. You say your sister is living in the house with 2 children, but will need to move eventually for an extra bedroom. So it’s a 2 bed house? Is your sister in receipt of benefits? You also say you want to buy your own house?
The house should be sold - it will raise enough funds for your sister to rent a bigger property for some while, and for you to have a decent deposit on your property. Her living there for an unspecified time is untenable. She should now be paying you half the market value in rent. You need to have an honest conversation with her asap about the house being sold.

Keep_pedalling

I suppose the one advantage of you owning it outright and them living in it as you tenants is that it is easier and cheaper to evict tenants than force a sale and get her out.

Your sibling is being very selfish but unfortunately there seem to be lots of selfish siblings as it seems to be a recurring problem on this board. 

Having said that you are the sole administrator of the estate and while the property is still owned by the estate you may already have the power to evict, so before making a decision that will cost you in the purchase of your own home in the loss of your FTB status I would take legal advice.

Mojisola

Robin9 said:

There was no will

That's straightforward then. The administrator can sell everything and share the money between the beneficiaries. 
If the sister wants to stay in the house, she would have it buy it off the estate. 
If she can't, she will have to move out. 
It's not going to do much for family relations but then neither will the sister holding her sibling to ransom by trying to stay in the house. 

SeniorSam

Sundaymorning6 said:

I don’t mind to buy it because honestly forcing to sell would be an absolute nightmare - I can’t tell you how I it was so simple. But is it feasible if I buy it and  they stay living there. 

If you do this, there is no assurance that you would ever get the property, or the half value that it is. Also no assurance that your sibling would maintain the property, but let it run down and that cost would be up to you.

As this was left to you bot equally and you have the authority to manage the estate, it may be better to sell and split the proceeds. Your sibling can apply for help to the local authority, or you could offer to help with the deposit on your siblings house but have your name on that deed to protect your investment.

Take professional advice whatever you do

Keep_pedalling

What is the value of the house and the total value of the estate?

Savvy_Sue

One important point: you almost certainly DON'T want to change the ownership before you sell. 

If you sell the house 'from the estate', you both retain your FTB status.

nom_de_plume

A bit late to this thread but the house could always be sold with a tenant in situ. There are investors who will but an occupied BTL property at the right price.

TBagpuss

I agree  with others that what your sibling wants is unlikely to be practiical - they are effecctively asking you to defer receiving your inheritance, for their convenience. They would also be forcing you into becoming a lanflord, and losing your first time buyer status, or alternatively, be forcing you into a position where you continue to jointly own a property you can't live in and don't actually want to keep.

I appreciate that it is difficult and this may be one of the situations where involving a solicitor to help with the administration of the estate may actually be useful - portentially it puts you in the postiion where you can say "The solicitors's told me that I have an obligation as the personal representative to sell the house in order to wind up the estate, so unless you want to and are able to buy my share from the estate, we'll have to sell it. I've looked into whether it would be possible for me to buy you out, but that isn't possible"

If yoursibling pushes you to buy their share and allow them to carry on living threre then you can repeat that  you have looked into it and it won't be possible. (Which isn't a lie. It's not possible to do it in a way that works for you - the reason it isn't possible may be that you an't get a suitable BTL mortgage, it might be that it isn't possible because you are not comforntable being put in a position wehre you are your sibling's landlord - you don't have to go into the reasons withthem, just make clear that your have looked into t and it is notpossible, so the only choices are that the house is sold and the monney solit, or that sibling buys you out and stays put.

Things you could do:

• Agree a fixed time before marketing the hosue to give your sibling time to find somewhere ew (maybe 3 months?) 

• If there are anhy other assets in the estate, you could agree to your sibling having an interim payment from those assets to give them money for a deposit to rent somewhere,.even if there is not enough to enable you to also have a similar interim payment (You'd want to keep bakck enough to cover insurance etc on the proety until it is sold so you aren't fuding those from your own pocket)

• suggest that they look at shared ownership options which might allow them to buy even if they can't afford to do so in a conventional way right now 

If you were willing, it might be possible for you to defer the sale and for your sibling to pay rent to the estate (half of which, after any expenses)  would then go back to her as it would be part of the assets of the estte BUT you would need legal advice about this abd whether it was possible / practical what legal responsibilities you would have as the person dealing wit hthe estate . If your sibling's circumstnaces are likely to change in the near future, for instnace , if they are currently looking for work and expec t to be able to get a mortgage within the next 6-12 months, you could consider it for a strictly limited time but to be honest I think it would just be putting off the problem.

Your sibling isn't givening you any consideration here, they are looking at things solely from their own point of view. You need to stand up for yourrself If the money is split then presumably your sibling will be abl to use those funds to pay rent, if they are not able to buy, so they are not goingt be left homeless.

Brie

A friend of mine had a similar situation after his parent died.  It's taken 8 years to get the sibling to move out so the house can be sold.  Nice to have a free place to live for nearly a decade.  Meanwhile my friend has gone increasingly into debt.