Inherited house

Transit12

hello, 
my sister and I have equally inherited our late mum's house. My sister would like to keep the property and I am happy to sell my half to her.
Unfortunately, despite many professional valuations she has struggled to accept the value of the house. She has decided to go with the lowest sales price, as well as taking off the highest 'estate agent' fees of 5% + VAT, from the value she is willing to give me for my 50% share of the house. She has also decide to take off re-decoration and clearance fees. 

I disagree that she should not be taking fees of the amount she gives me as they are not appropriate as there is no estate agent involved and no redecoration is taking place. The valuations are based on the current condition of the house, which is very good. 

I feel bullied into accepting her offer of £75,000 for a house that has been valued at up to
Euros 225,000  - or £196,245.00

any advice appreciated. 

Sea_Shell

If you can't agree, How many thousands of £, in legal fees, are you willing to throw at the "fight"?

How much do you value your relationship?

Maybe be prepared to lose the battle, but win the war.

Hoenir

Surely the value shoulds be that declared for probate. 

Keep_pedalling

Refuse to sell to her and insist it is sold on the open market. Who is (are) the executor(s)

GrumpyDil

Keep_pedalling said:

Refuse to sell to her and insist it is sold on the open market. Who is (are) the executor(s)

This if the relationship is not important but if it is you are going to have to try to negotiate. My position would probably be 1/2 value of house, if necessary get a formal paid for valuation - 1/2 cost of clearance and 1/2 of average selling fees. 

sammyjammy

I agree you split the fees for the house clearance, this should probably have come out of executor fees.  If you don't agree with her offer and feel ripped off then decline it.  Unless you are desperate for the money of course which means she probably holds all the cards.  To be fair you should go for the average of the estate agent valuations, there is nothing else for you to pay towards.

What does she say to your points?

EssexHebridean

Have you asked her how estate agents fees are relevant allowing that there won't need to be agents involved?

You might point out to her (if this applies to you)  that the very fact that you have been left this property also affects your ability to use the First Time Buyer relief on SDLT in the future - and that in itself comes with a cost for you. 

Grumpy_chap

Transit12 said:

hello, 
my sister and I have equally inherited our late mum's house. My sister would like to keep the property and I am happy to sell my half to her.
Unfortunately, despite many professional valuations she has struggled to accept the value of the house. She has decided to go with the lowest sales price, as well as taking off the highest 'estate agent' fees of 5% + VAT, from the value she is willing to give me for my 50% share of the house. She has also decide to take off re-decoration and clearance fees. 

I disagree that she should not be taking fees of the amount she gives me as they are not appropriate as there is no estate agent involved and no redecoration is taking place. The valuations are based on the current condition of the house, which is very good. 

I feel bullied into accepting her offer of £75,000 for a house that has been valued at up to
Euros 225,000  - or £196,245.00

any advice appreciated. 

There seems to be some "double-bubble" in there from the sister.

• If the EA fees are 5% + VAT (seems high to me), then half of that would be for the sister to pay and half for the OP to pay.  Not all deducted from the OP's share.
• Decorating is already reflected in the value of the property, so to deduct the cost of redecoration would be duplication.
• Clearance is required regardless, but the costs should be split and not all deducted from the OP's share

Sister seems to want to pay £75k for half of the £200k house.  Are all the costs really as much as £50k?

If the OP and sister cannot reach an amicable position, then the alternative is to sell the house to the open market.  Sister can still submit an offer via that process, but will be at risk of being "gazumped" if the offer is too low plus the costs of EA will all be realised regardless.

jlfrs01

Usually in this situation one gets 3 valuations and it's the middle one which is taken as an average. I agree with the OP over the Estate Agent fees - how can they be factored in when the property won't be sold? If the sister wants to redecorate then that's her choice - at her cost, why pay for something the OP would never gain a benefit from? I think it's reasonable to pay an equal share of the clearance costs and any legal fees in passing title over, etc.

This is the easy way - the hard way if the OP's sister remains intransigent is to put the property on the market with all associated costs and fees to be split 50:50. The first way is less hassle, a lot cheaper and quicker plus there'll be no utliities, insurance, Council Tax and other costs to factor in for the many months it would take to list through to the final sale. That's surely got to appeal to common sense?

Grumpy_chap

jlfrs01 said:

 there'll be no utliities, insurance, Council Tax and other costs to factor in for the many months it would take to list through to the final sale. That's surely got to appeal to common sense?

I agree with your post.
The OP has to be careful, though, as it sounds as though the sister would take any suggestion about costs for the sale process and say "£1k per month for 12 months saved, all off your half".  The OP would be offered £63k rather than the £75k that is currently in place.

jlfrs01

Grumpy_chap said:

The OP has to be careful, though, as it sounds as though the sister would take any suggestion about costs for the sale process and say "£1k per month for 12 months saved, all off your half".  The OP would be offered £63k rather than the £75k that is currently in place.

I guess the bottom line is the OP can say "no deal", they do have a choice and don't need to be railroaded into accepting a deal they don't think is reasonable. I don't know what the dynamic is like between these siblings but if the OP doesn't feel comfortable to negotiate for whatever reason then there is a 3rd option which is not to sell their share or the property. In that scenario the sister may want to live in the house which could be possible and if so, it would be reasonable for her to meet all the running costs. The OP maintains a share in an asset which has every chance of increasing in future value. My guess is that won't be ideal for the sister in which case it potentially puts the OP in quite a strong position with 3 bargaining chips to play: either improve the offer to do a quick deal without agency fees, extra legal fees, etc, put it on the open market if the sister doesn't want to play ball or do nothing and maintain the 50% share of the ownership which will obviously mean the sister sacrifices half of any increase in value when and if it is eventually sold.