Selling my 25% share of property

Jasonking1

Hello. My mother died without leaving a will, and letters of administration were granted about a year ago for me and 3 siblings. 

My sister is the main person dealing with the estate, and her intentions and my other siblings intentions are to keep the house, but mine is to be bought out, as I wouldn’t be able to afford to do the house up as it is in a terrible state, and I’m receiving benefits. 

My sister said she would buy me out , but I have to get my own solicitor to draw up documents, and I have to get the house valued, and pay the bills.
i assumed it would be her solicitor drawing up documents as she is buying my share?   Although she seems to be dragging things out, as lots of utility bills are still coming through for the executor of my mum’s estate , and she says she’s still trying to sort out other things, like the deeds.  

It doesn’t help that my siblings don’t get on aswell, and they hardly speak! And my sister has never liked me and I have a feeling she will try and stitch me up.
i was wondering wether I should appoint a solicitor (even though I haven’t got much money and am not entitled to legal aid) or await to see what happens.
also, being on benefits, I want to get the money for the property ASAP, so I can finally be off benefits.
so my main questions are  , Do I need to instruct a solicitor, and if so do I do it now or when the estate is finally sorted?
do I need to get it valued for myself now? (Even though there’s hoards of stuff still in there)
And when would I need to notify DWP that I may be getting bought out?
many thanks

ProDave

I was in this position many years ago, except I inherited 25% and the other 75% was owned by my sister.

We both had to pay our own solicitors fees just like anyone else would do, you are selling a share of the property, your siblings are buying a share of the property.

I had to accept a little under 25% of the value as that was all mys sister could afford, and at the time I was advised that is the only option I have as it would be impossible to sell my 25% to anyone else.

It may be more complicated if they are keeping it in joint names as you might find all 3 co owners have to employ solicitors as they will each be buying a bit and will each own 33%.  Or is one of them buying your 25% to become a 50% owner?

Jasonking1

ProDave said:

I was in this position many years ago, except I inherited 25% and the other 75% was owned by my sister.

We both had to pay our own solicitors fees just like anyone else would do, you are selling a share of the property, your siblings are buying a share of the property.

I had to accept a little under 25% of the value as that was all mys sister could afford, and at the time I was advised that is the only option I have as it would be impossible to sell my 25% to anyone else.

It may be more complicated if they are keeping it in joint names as you might find all 3 co owners have to employ solicitors as they will each be buying a bit and will each own 33%.  Or is one of them buying your 25% to become a 50% owner?

Thanks for that. I’m not sure who’s buying me out. My brother can’t afford it but my two rich sisters will probably fight over it! I have no idea why they don’t want to sell, as they don’t speak at all!

Keep_pedalling

You should not need a conveyance solicitor as you are not selling your share of the house. It is currently owned by your mother’s estate and your siblings are going to transfer the house into their names and paying you your share in cash. Having said that it might be a good idea to have a solicitor to deal with your sister as she sounds a total PITA / incompetent.

If anyone is currently living in the property then they are responsible for the running costs otherwise the estate pays them and 1/4 of that cost will come out of your share. 

As for valuation it would be a good idea to get a professional valuation to make sure you are receiving your fair share. What was the probate valuation and how was it obtained?

Jasonking1

Keep_pedalling said:

You should not need a conveyance solicitor as you are not selling your share of the house. It is currently owned by your mother’s estate and your siblings are going to transfer the house into their names and paying you your share in cash. Having said that it might be a good idea to have a solicitor to deal with your sister as she sounds a total PITA / incompetent.

If anyone is currently living in the property then they are responsible for the running costs otherwise the estate pays them and 1/4 of that cost will come out of your share. 

As for valuation it would be a good idea to get a professional valuation to make sure you are receiving your fair share. What was the probate valuation and how was it obtained?

The valuation was about £500K, and was an online valuation. I don’t believe it’s worth that much with the state it’s in. Maybe £400K.
i am thinking of getting in a solicitor to look over things, but I don’t really want to spend too much, like £2k at the most

pinkshoes

Just get a couple of independents to do a valuation (not an estate agent, as they tend to over-value) and then agree a price with your sister.

Once a price is agreed, then get a solicitor on the case.

At what point has probate got to? I think there are two ways it can work. Firstly you inherit your 25% share then can choose to sell to whoever you like (so either sister), or before it even goes through probate, I'm sure you can alter who the house goes to as long as you all agree and it doesn't affect anyone elses share? e.g. when my grandad died, my mum didn't want all her share, so divided it between me and my brother instead. This was fine as it had no impact on the financial gain of the other siblings who inherited. 

SDLT_Geek

Do you know if the net estate (the value of all the assets after deducting debts, expenses, tax etc) is much more than the value of the house? 

Let is say it is for a moment.  Let us say the net estate is worth £800K and the house (included within that) is worth £420k.  Let us say that the value is to be divided between four siblings A, B, C and D equally.  So each will get property worth £200K.  The executors could appropriate the net assets so that:

A gets cash of £200,000.
B gets a 1/3 share of the house worth £140K and cash of £60K.
C gets a 1/3 share of the house worth £140K and cash of £60K.
D gets a 1/3 share of the house worth £140K and cash of £60K.

No sale is needed, it is just a different way of dividing the assets.

Keep_pedalling

pinkshoes said:

Just get a couple of independents to do a valuation (not an estate agent, as they tend to over-value) and then agree a price with your sister.

Once a price is agreed, then get a solicitor on the case.

At what point has probate got to? I think there are two ways it can work. Firstly you inherit your 25% share then can choose to sell to whoever you like (so either sister), or before it even goes through probate, I'm sure you can alter who the house goes to as long as you all agree and it doesn't affect anyone elses share? e.g. when my grandad died, my mum didn't want all her share, so divided it between me and my brother instead. This was fine as it had no impact on the financial gain of the other siblings who inherited. 

The OP has not inherited 25% of a house they have inherited 25% of their mother’s estate under the intestacy rules. The sensible thing to do would be to sell up and split the proceeds 4 ways but unfortunately siblings can be bloody minder about these things and creat this sort of mess.

Flugelhorn

exactly right  @pinkshoes - 

 @Jasonking1 you have inherited 25% of the estate, having that as 25% of the house is not what you need so the executors really have to find a way of giving you 25% of the estate value before they go changing the names on the land registry to whatever they decide to do

Bigphil1474

Agree with the last 2 - if you have 25% of the estate, it doesn't have to be the house, it could be from other assets if she had any. Do you have legal cover on your house insurance? If so, you might be able to get a free consultation through that. If you think that the house is only worth £400k, or it gets valued at that, just tell them that you will take £100k if the 2 rich sisters give you half each, they get to own 37.5% of the house each. Depends how savvy you are, a solicitor may not be needed, but if you think they'll try and stich you up, it would be advisable.