TR1 Form + Will Question

Dominic1234

Good afternoon, 

My father passed away and left me his share of some land that he has a 1/3 share in with his 3 brothers. 
I was out of contact with my father for a number of years and in turn was out of touch with that side of his family and still have no significant contact with them. 
A few weeks after his passing it was told me to that he wished to leave me his share of the land. My gran, live in a property on this land, so I am under the illusion nothing will be done with the land/property until she vacates/passes. 

I received a TR1 form from a solicitor, to transfer ownership, which I completed and sent back to the solicitor. This was in January 2023. 

I didn't pay any attention to it after that due to nothing being done with the land until a time when I was able to, I recently purchased the deeds/ownership from the land registry and it was still showing as my father listed as an owner. 

I contacted the Land Registry, who informed me that they had not received a TR1 form regarding the property. 

I contacted the solicitor by e-mail, they have not replied. Looking at the legal ombudsman I have to wait 8 weeks before submitting a complaint to them. 

What else can I do? 
Is there a time frame that can pass where the land would be passed to the other two owners? 
Is there anything I can do with my 3rd of the property/land? Could I sell my share to a third party? How would you divide this? 

I am not in a talking position we the other two owners, when it was originally passed to me, I was offered figures to purchase it from myself but this was extremely below what it is worth. 

Any help would be greatly received. 

Thank you

Brie

Is there a will?  Have you seen a copy?  To just to ensure that he has actually left you his portion of the property.  If there is no will then, as I understand it, you (& any siblings, assuming he had no living spouse) would inherit all his estate including his property share.

If you don't want to deal with your family then perhaps once you establish the value of the property you could get a third party (or a solicitor which might get expensive if use for the whole process) to contact them on your behalf offering to sell.  If someone has given an estimate for the value and you tell them you will take 1/3 then maybe they will be interested.  Frankly I doubt that any third party, i.e. a stranger, would be interested in buying a portion of something that might then be a struggle for them to sell if they wanted to.  Unless of course the property is exceedingly valuable, prime location etc.  

Do you know if your gran is still there?  Or anyone else for that matter?  

Dominic1234

Thanks for your comments Brie. 

There is a will which I have a copy of after purchasing it online. The wording on the will is 'bequeathed his share of the property' is that the right terminology to be used?  

I received a phone call from my gran nearer the time offering me a figure, very low figure, which I turned down. I then reached out to my uncle, in terms of a letter asking if they would be willing to make me an offer, his daughter/my cousin then contacted me and again offered me a low figure. I contacted some estate agents where the property is and asked for some ball park figures so I could have an understanding of what would be fair and they fell way short of it. 

My gran does still live there in the property and it is my understanding that my uncle lives on the land in a static caravan. 

GDB2222

Is this a large firm of solicitors, or a one man band? If it is a large firm, you should complain to the senior partner. Generally, you should try to use the firm’s complaints procedure before involving the ombudsman. It seems strange that you are being entirely ignored. It may be worth phoning as email addresses change, people leave, etc.

As to the value of the land, is gran's property part of the title you inherited a share of? Or does she have a separate leasehold title? 

Dominic1234

Hi GDB2222, 

It seems to be a one man band according to there website, I e-mailed the e-mail address with name as the first part on the letter I received but this bounced back, assuming they had left, went on the website and have used the only e-mail address listed on there but have had no reply regarding that. 

I have tried again today on there online form to contact them and not used the e-mail address to see if that will bring a response, if not then I will contact them. 

The property is part of the title yes, it includes the property and the land, all in all it is 12 acres so 4 each is my assumption. 

Yorkie1

When you contacted the EAs for a ballpark valuation, on what basis did they provide a value? Were they valuing the whole property, without any complications or people currently resident? (i.e. as if for sale as a whole on the open market?).

If so, then it may not be realistic to expect the valuation of your portion to be 1/3 of that EA valuation. As others have said, sale to an independent third party is not very feasible (as opposed to the other owners), and if someone currently has rights to live there, then it further reduces the value to someone else.

This may not be the case for you, but if it is, then it might be worth considering the previous offers in that light.

user1977

Dominic1234 said:

It seems to be a one man band according to there website, I e-mailed the e-mail address with name as the first part on the letter I received but this bounced back, assuming they had left, went on the website and have used the only e-mail address listed on there but have had no reply regarding that. 

Are you sure they’re currently trading? If it’s literally one person they can be away for whatever reason. What did the email bounce back say?

GDB2222

Yorkie1 said:

When you contacted the EAs for a ballpark valuation, on what basis did they provide a value? Were they valuing the whole property, without any complications or people currently resident? (i.e. as if for sale as a whole on the open market?).

If so, then it may not be realistic to expect the valuation of your portion to be 1/3 of that EA valuation. As others have said, sale to an independent third party is not very feasible (as opposed to the other owners), and if someone currently has rights to live there, then it further reduces the value to someone else.

This may not be the case for you, but if it is, then it might be worth considering the previous offers in that light.

If Granny has a right to live there rent free, then that does definitely reduce the value. Likewise, if uncle pays no rent on his pitch. I'm not suggesting the OP should try to overturn that arrangement, but he's entitled to understand what's going on, and why. 

If granny has no legal right to live there rent free,  and it's by grace and favour of the powners, then that's different, too.

In general a joint owner of the land has a right to force a sale of the entire property on the open market, so sale to a third party is feasible.  

p00hsticks

Dominic1234 said:

The property is part of the title yes, it includes the property and the land, all in all it is 12 acres so 4 each is my assumption. 

I think you'd need to clarify that as surely the value will be affected by whether we have three people jointly owning a single 12 acres of land, or there being three separate 4 acre plots that can be sold individually, especially if one has property on it. how would you decide on which person gets which piece of land ?