Help with a dispute over my dad's estate

MyChemicalRomanceGirl20

I'm looking for some information or advice in regards to a situation that has developed since my dad passed away last month. 

In brief, my dad had an unconventional living situation in which he resided in his friends property, rent free, over the last 9 or so years. His friend had moved away to another city. There was no formal tenancy agreement and it was an informal arrangement which seemed to work for my dad and his friend.

My dad became unwell in July and went into hospital, and in September he came to my house to stay whilst he had chemotherapy and he signed all bills back over into his friends name for her property, as by this point, my dad's health had deteriorated and he had been awarded band A council priority to get a ground floor flat. My dad passed away in October, and myself, my sister and his friend are joint executors of his will. The will leaves gifts to his 5 grandchildren, with the remainder of his estate to be split between myself and my sister.

There are complicating factors involving my dad's cash - his bank account was closed and deposited into my account but he has roughly 36k in cash in another friends safe. My dad had a life insurance policy which is due to pay out into my bank any day now to the value of £51k.

My dad's friend who owns the property he resided in has since discovered that there had been a washing machine leak which has caused damage to the kitchen floor and the bathroom ceiling below. The property was already in poor state of condition with my dad's friend being a hoarder when she lived there and my dad living a similar lifestyle. My dad's friend first delivered to us via a third party that my dad had promised her a new bathroom before he passed away. Me and my sister refused. Now they are saying they will take me and my sister to court to rectify the damage that has been caused to her property. 

My dad did not pay her rent but they went on holiday once a year for a month at a time and he paid for her holidays and I have also seen my dad sent her 3 sums of money in Feb, March and July this year which totalled £3550. We do not know what this was for but can assume it was a gift of cash to her. Whilst my dad lived in her property, he paid for a new boiler to be installed and maintained all the bills and council tax etc. She did not have any safety checks that a landlord is required to have. 

The person who holds my dad's cash in a safe has now informed us that we cannot access any of the cash until this dispute is resolved.

My query for advice is really what should we do here? Who is in the right or the wrong? What are the chances of her taking us to court successfully or is it better to suck it up and pay for the repairs. 

She is unable to sell the property easily as the building had cladding to the external so it is not mortgageable and the council have refused to buy it back from her due to the condition of it. 

In the current condition, the property has been valued at around 60k by an estate agent. We have said she should just sell the property as is and cut her losses. It was her agreement to let my dad stay in her house the way she did and it was not anything to do with me or my sister. 

Any advice is greatly welcomed. Thank you!

FlorayG

If she has nothing in writing from your father promising a new bathroom I don't think she has a chance, If she goes to court how can she prove that the money he already sent her was not for that purpose?
As for the friend with the cash - do you have proof that the money belongs to your father's estate? If so they can't withhold it. If not then I can't see that you can legally retrieve it anyway
On the other hand, you're set to inherit over £100k and perhaps providing a new bathroom in thanks for letting your father stay there for 9 years rent free might be the morally right thing to do? My new bathroom cost less than £3,000

tacpot12

Your father had a tenancy. It doesn't matter that it wasn't formalised in a written tenancy agreement. Even unwritten tenancy agreements include the obligation to use the home in a 'tenant-like' way - for example, by not causing damage. If you do cause damage, then you are liable for the cost of repairing the damage. 

So I think a court would order that your father's estate pays to repair the damage. This is different to paying for a new bathroom. As FloRayG says, without anything in writing that agrees to pay for a new bathroom, the friend will not succeed in court. 

The ransom changes things. It may be better to agree to pay for a new bathroom, in full-and-final settlement of the liability for damage, just so that the money in the safe can be returned. Ideally, the person whose safe it is, should remove the money and pass the agreed amount to the owner of the property and give the rest to you. It wwould be wise to get a receipt from the owner of the property for the money confirming that it is in full-and-final settlement of the debts arising from the informal tenancy, and for you to give the owners of the safe a receipt for the total amount that was stored in the safe.

Keep_pedalling

I think in your situation I would be pragmatic and try to resolve this amicably by offering her a cash settlement out of you and your sibling’s share. The amount you are inheriting is as high as it is partly because he has been living rent free for a number of years. 

When you do get your hands on the cash expect a grilling from the bank regarding its source. 

doodling

Hi,

This is a bit of a mess.

1. It is not clear whether there was or was not a tenancy.  The paying for the property owners holidays and the recent cash payments could be considered to be rent but that really depends on the circumstances.  Only a judge could decide and you probably don't want to end up at a point where a judge is making that decision.

2. The friend holding the cash is acting unlawfully - if the cash is part of the estate and the estate doesn't owe anything to that person then they have no right to hold onto it and should give it to the executor.  In order to enforce that position you need robust evidence that the cash is part of the estate (I.e.it belonged to your Dad) and of how much is there (as it would be easy for the person currently holding it to give you £100 and say that is all there was).  If you don't have both of those then you are a very weak position.

You will need to negotiate a pragmatic solution between you, the house owner and the person holding the cash. That may well involve a significant payment to the house owner and maybe to the person holding the cash.  I would ensure that all the executors and the residual beneficieries are on board with whatever plan you come up with as they could make this very difficult if they were expecting things to be handled in a different way, or have expectations of you recovering more of the money than you eventually do.

If your Dad was receiving any benefits then you need to consider whether they will need to be repaid - assets of £32k would affect entitlement to some benefits.

It would be good if you can, as part of the negotiations with the person holding the cash, to document the facts around the cash so that the person holding it can't suddenly decide that it didn't exist or was a different amount - that suggests using some form of recorded conversation (e.g. written letters, texts, WhatsApp or even recorded phone calls, for example) in dealing with them.