Estate Administration problem , advice required

jack2020

I welcome help regarding this situation re: my late fathers property. He passed away in Dec 2015 intestate , I have one sister . The problem lies with property valuation and the potential buyout of my father's house by my sister . In short , I was taking her property on approval as p/x for my father's house as I wanted to receive a rental income and she was wanting to move , All amicable !! . On having her property surveyed it revealed irrepairable historic subsidence so I retracted from our verbal unofficial agreement (nothing in writing ) and also realised that my Father's house was undervalued substancially by only getting one valuation on date of death . Our situation is now that she resides in my father's property still belonging to the estate and I have no property ( It was sold as it was still my sister's property ) and have no rental income and I feel that I ought have half of my father's property being valued correctly at todays value in order to purchase another property to rent out , my sister does not and a combination of property price increase over the years and the fact it was undervalued in the first place means there a very big discrepancy as in at around £140,000 profit in 6 years to her benefit ( DOD valuation £160000 , last years value £300,000 ). she has had improvements done hence it is worth more and i am willing to contribute towards these . I also received a rental income from her property prior to it's sale 2 years ago . Is this a fair administration ? Do i have a claim on the estate if it still belongs to the estate ? Could capital gains tax be an issue ? Advice much appreciated and help as to move forward

TripleH

So has the estate been distributed?

Have you received your share? (This doesn't have to be money it can be something else but it has to be an acceptable amount. If you received £30,000 as your half of a £300,000 estate split equally  I would expect you to have formally agreed in writing to do so.

Who are the executors, it might be that you have to remind your sister and the executors that they have failed in their duties (this may include you). There will be capital gains if the estate still owns the property as well and if the house is yourv sisters only and main residence  she will have it to pay when she sells as she doesn't sound like she owns the property yet.

jack2020

Thank you for your reply . The bank accounts have been divided equally , the problem is the property and it's value , I feel that I should be entitled to half the value of my father's house at todays prices less a contribution towards some of the improvements my sister has done and she doesn't . We cannot come up with any middle ground to settle this as in value . I wish to purchase a property for a rental income to replace the original arrangement and she feels she has made my father's house what it is with her renovations and therefore should profit and i receive some sort of good will gesture , she also says solicitors agree with her . Had her property not have had subsidence it wouldn't be an issue as such ( I would have been getting an income and it would have risen in value and i could have done improvements on it )  and my only gripe would have been the undervalue of the my father's house . This is a lesson learned for DIY probate as I am left feeling very financially compromised and would appreciate input for an amicable resolve on this dilemma

msb1234

Why don’t you both consult a solicitor together, and also try to get a valuation of the property at the date of death from an estate agent, which you could then extrapolate what the current value would be (without the improvements). It may well be that the improvements your sister has carried out have not affected the value as much as she thinks they have. After all, if she paid £10k for a bathroom it may not equate to a £10k increase in value.

getmore4less

its 1/2 your house,  move in

That might motivate her to be more reasonable.

jack2020

Hi , thank you for your replies. Do any more people have any suggestions as I feel I might have to involve a solicitor now as we cannot see eye to eye but I would rather not go down that route both because of financial reasons and I also feel it would bring a lot of Ill feeling , 

Savvy_Sue

Mediation might work better than a solicitor but you'll need current values

Marcon

jack2020 said:

Hi , thank you for your replies. Do any more people have any suggestions as I feel I might have to involve a solicitor now as we cannot see eye to eye but I would rather not go down that route both because of financial reasons and I also feel it would bring a lot of Ill feeling , 

You've already got the ill feeling and it will only get worse if matters aren't addressed. 

msb1234 said:

Why don’t you both consult a solicitor together, and also try to get a valuation of the property at the date of death from an estate agent, which you could then extrapolate what the current value would be (without the improvements). It may well be that the improvements your sister has carried out have not affected the value as much as she thinks they have. After all, if she paid £10k for a bathroom it may not equate to a £10k increase in value.

Unlikely a solicitor would want to get involved on that basis at this late stage, since there is now a clear conflict of interest between the two parties. Separate legal advice is going to be needed.

OP - you've not responded to the question about executors. Are you and your sister both executors, and the only two executors?

jonnydeppiwish!

If you both own the property, has she been paying you rent for your half? 

I not an expert but maybe one will come along and suggest whether this is a similar situation as separations where no financial agreement in place at divorce 

jack2020

Thank you again for the replies . My father died intestate and my sister was the person who filled out the probate forms and became the administrator so we could distribute the estate.  she doesn’t pay rent for my share of the property and can’t afford to do so and nor has funds to pay me out . She thinks I should have some increase on the 2016 valuation but what is to be deemed fair seems the problem and she doesn’t want inflated estate agent valuations nor wants a surveyor to value. It has become an impossible situation , and I am wanting to purchase a property to get a return on my inheritance . This forum’s comments are very much appreciated 

Malthusian

There's a mix of singular and plural in your post; are you both the administrators of the estate, or just your sister?

she doesn’t pay rent for my share of the property and can’t afford to do so and nor has funds to pay me out .

Sure she can (afford to pay you rent). She can pay out of her share of the estate when it is settled.

She thinks I should have some increase on the 2016 valuation but what is to be deemed fair seems the problem and she doesn’t want inflated estate agent valuations nor wants a surveyor to value.

If she can't buy you out, an estate agent valuation or RICS valuation seems moot. You need / she needs to sell the property and settle the estate, and the value will be whatever the market is willing to pay. (Minus capital gains tax.)

You need to contact a solicitor as it doesn't sound like you are going to get anywhere otherwise.