Need advice as majority owner of UK property!

skillboy88

A UK property has four owners, each with a 25% share.
Three owners who have a total 75% majority share want to either a) sell the property or b) get planning permission to knock down and rebuild the house. The fourth shareholder who owns 25% doesn't want to do either and won't agree to any reasonable suggestion.
As the three of us own 75% of the property, can we force the 25% shareholder to either sell their share to us or to play ball and sell on the open market or contribute legal costs and time towards obtaining planning permission for a new house?

Any advice much appreciated!

theartfullodger

Was there any (documented)  agreement set up between the 4 owners governing such issues and if so what did it say, please?

skillboy88

theartfullodger said:

Was there any (documented)  agreement set up between the 4 owners governing such issues and if so what did it say, please?

There wasn't any documented agreement other than the four of us each owning a 25% share of the property. 

TripleH

This is why if you own something like this, you have an agreement in place to exit ownership of the property.

You could offer more than 25% of the value to buy the other individual out.

Does this person live there?

You can go down the legal route but this will cost money.

What is this person's reasoning to keep the property?

skillboy88

TripleH said:

This is why if you own something like this, you have an agreement in place to exit ownership of the property.

You could offer more than 25% of the value to buy the other individual out.

Does this person live there?

You can go down the legal route but this will cost money.

What is this person's reasoning to keep the property?

The three of us have already asked the forth person if they would consider us buying them out. However, they have asked for a ridiculous price way way above the actual market value (we had three property agents come to give a valuation). This person lives in the house and seems content to continue to live there and not change anything. 

We are thinking that maybe the only option is to go down the legal route and try to "force" them to cooperate? To us it seems a crazy situation and one that none of us had ever envisioned ....

user1977

Ultimately a court can force a sale. I'm not sure if they can force a buy-out by the other co-owners, but in practice I expect threatening to do either may make the minority owner see sense, rather than everyone suffer through legal expenses etc.

skillboy88

user1977 said:

Ultimately a court can force a sale. I'm not sure if they can force a buy-out by the other co-owners, but in practice I expect threatening to do either may make the minority owner see sense, rather than everyone suffer through legal expenses etc.

I certainly hope so! 

Bendy_House

I think the other three parties should move in to the house too.

Movie choice? Shallow Grave.

Shelldean

skillboy88 said:

TripleH said:

This is why if you own something like this, you have an agreement in place to exit ownership of the property.

You could offer more than 25% of the value to buy the other individual out.

Does this person live there?

You can go down the legal route but this will cost money.

What is this person's reasoning to keep the property?

The three of us have already asked the forth person if they would consider us buying them out. However, they have asked for a ridiculous price way way above the actual market value (we had three property agents come to give a valuation). This person lives in the house and seems content to continue to live there and not change anything. 

We are thinking that maybe the only option is to go down the legal route and try to "force" them to cooperate? To us it seems a crazy situation and one that none of us had ever envisioned ....

The owner who occupies the property should pay the other owners rent I think? Well they should be getting 25% each of the rent

Annisele

Do all/any of the three owners who want to sell also live in the house?

Does the owner who doesn't want to sell pay rent to all/any of the others?

If "no" and "no", then a sale seems entirely against the fourth owner's interests - so it's not surprising they don't want to sell.

How did the fourth owner come to live in the house, and is there any agreement (even if only verbal) between the four owners about that? Unless something really unusual happened, I can't see a court saying that the fourth owner could live there indefinintely, but it might make a difference. (By "unusual", I'm thinking of things like the fourth owner used to own the house outright then gifted a quarter to each of hte other three, but the gift was subject to the fourth owner's right to continue to live in the house.)

diggingdude

Is the person living there compensating the other 3 for wear and tear of the property