Forcing a sale of a house.

Scattersand6

TadleyBaggie said:

I would say you have no way to make him sell. The will said he can remain in the property until he dies, that still stands. The fact that he moved someone else into the property is irrelevant. 

But he is not looking after the property as he should be and this was stated in the will.

Scattersand6

nakie999 said:

Scattersand6 said:

Hi All,
My step father got into a lot of debt at one point where it was either him and my mother losing their home or he borrowed money from an unknown(unknown to me and my sister) This all happened when my mother was alive. Because of this my mother wrote a will witnessed by my  sister and of course 2 solicitors. The will read that me and my sister owned 50% he would own 3% and the 47% belonged to this unknown borrower. In the will it read that he may remain in the property until he either dies or if he intends to move, if he was to move that would mean selling the house and our share would come to us then. My mother sadly died and within a few months another woman moved in. We do not want this woman to be in the home my mother made a home and clearly it is not well looked after because it's a mess and the building needs attention. It also stated in the will that he must look after the property and not let it get to disrepair but we have been there recently and there is water coming through causing a lot of damp. What is a shame is that my mother never thought he would find another woman therefore she clearly never mentioned this in the will. ADVICE PLEASE- can we force him to sell? If so, how easy is it? 

Yes, you can usually force a sale, but it is not automatic. If the house is jointly owned and one owner refuses to sell, you can apply to the court for an order for sale. The court looks at the will, each owner’s share, the purpose of the property, and whether anyone has a right to stay there. If the will does not give his new partner a legal right to occupy, her presence does not block a sale. You need a solicitor to start the process, and it can take months, sometimes longer, depending on disputes and evidence.

Thank you for your advice.

Scattersand6

Flugelhorn said:

Just checking that the property was actually put into "tenants in common" - otherwise father (and his lender) own all of it 

He only owns 3% of the whole property and the lender owns 47%. Me and my sister own my mother's share and that is clear in the will.But obviously he would have had to pass away or if he intends on selling, that is when we will get the 50%

Scattersand6

Emmia said:

user1977 said:

Emmia said:

Scattersand6 said:

Hi All,
My step father got into a lot of debt at one point where it was either him and my mother losing their home or he borrowed money from an unknown(unknown to me and my sister) This all happened when my mother was alive. Because of this my mother wrote a will witnessed by my  sister and of course 2 solicitors. The will read that me and my sister owned 50% he would own 3% and the 47% belonged to this unknown borrower. In the will it read that he may remain in the property until he either dies or if he intends to move, if he was to move that would mean selling the house and our share would come to us then. My mother sadly died and within a few months another woman moved in. We do not want this woman to be in the home my mother made a home and clearly it is not well looked after because it's a mess and the building needs attention. It also stated in the will that he must look after the property and not let it get to disrepair but we have been there recently and there is water coming through causing a lot of damp. What is a shame is that my mother never thought he would find another woman therefore she clearly never mentioned this in the will. ADVICE PLEASE- can we force him to sell? If so, how easy is it? 

To clarify: Beneficiaries cannot usually witness wills being signed. Doing so invalidates the gift to them in the will. So potentially your sister has cut herself out of the inheritance the moment she signed (it doesn't matter what the will says)

Did your sister actually sign as a witness?

Given the reference to two solicitors I presume those were the witnesses and the OP just means the sister also attended the signing.

It would be helpful if the OP clarified this point. I'm not sure why a beneficiary would attend a signing though.

She attended as our mother was dying at the time but had full capacity to make the decisions on what to put in the will herself. 

SarahB16

Scattersand6 said:

Flugelhorn said:

Just checking that the property was actually put into "tenants in common" - otherwise father (and his lender) own all of it 

He only owns 3% of the whole property and the lender owns 47%. Me and my sister own my mother's share and that is clear in the will.But obviously he would have had to pass away or if he intends on selling, that is when we will get the 50%

Can I clarify who 'he' is and who 'the lender' is?  

'He' - this is your stepfather who is still alive but does not live in the house?

'The lender' - is the person who currently lives in the house? There is no mortgage or equity release scheme and 'the lender' is just referring to the person currently living in the property? 

monkey-fingers

SarahB16 said:

Scattersand6 said:

Flugelhorn said:

Just checking that the property was actually put into "tenants in common" - otherwise father (and his lender) own all of it 

He only owns 3% of the whole property and the lender owns 47%. Me and my sister own my mother's share and that is clear in the will.But obviously he would have had to pass away or if he intends on selling, that is when we will get the 50%

Can I clarify who 'he' is and who 'the lender' is?  

'He' - this is your stepfather who is still alive but does not live in the house?

'The lender' - is the person who currently lives in the house? There is no mortgage or equity release scheme and 'the lender' is just referring to the person currently living in the property? 

It was clear in the OP. 

The lender is an unnamed individual - I'm guessing a friend or family member.

pinkshoes

Scattersand6 said:

Hi All,
My step father got into a lot of debt at one point where it was either him and my mother losing their home or he borrowed money from an unknown(unknown to me and my sister) This all happened when my mother was alive. Because of this my mother wrote a will witnessed by my  sister and of course 2 solicitors. The will read that me and my sister owned 50% he would own 3% and the 47% belonged to this unknown borrower. In the will it read that he may remain in the property until he either dies or if he intends to move, if he was to move that would mean selling the house and our share would come to us then. My mother sadly died and within a few months another woman moved in. We do not want this woman to be in the home my mother made a home and clearly it is not well looked after because it's a mess and the building needs attention. It also stated in the will that he must look after the property and not let it get to disrepair but we have been there recently and there is water coming through causing a lot of damp. What is a shame is that my mother never thought he would find another woman therefore she clearly never mentioned this in the will. ADVICE PLEASE- can we force him to sell? If so, how easy is it? 

This is the clause you need to go after.

You need to WRITE to him (send with proof of postage) stating that as per the will, if he is to remain living in the house, he needs to keep it in a state of good repair, which he has not done. You are therefore giving him 28 days to complete the necessary works (list what) to make sure the house meets the will requirements. Failure to meet the requirements of the will means the house needs to be sold where he will be entitled to his 3% share. Let him know that you will be in touch shortly with a surveyor (qualified person of some sort??) to check that repairs have been carried out.

You could then say that if he is unable to maintain the house, then perhaps he would consider selling it. Say that as he only owes 3%, then if he agrees to the sale, you will meet all the selling costs. (make it sound tempting).

It might be worth getting in touch with the 47% lender as it is also in their best interest that the house is kept in a good state of repair. 

Threaten to move in yourself???

saajan_12

Scattersand6 said:

Hi All,
My step father got into a lot of debt at one point where it was either him and my mother losing their home or he borrowed money from an unknown(unknown to me and my sister) This all happened when my mother was alive. Because of this my mother wrote a will witnessed by my  sister and of course 2 solicitors. The will read that me and my sister owned 50% he would own 3% and the 47% belonged to this unknown borrower. In the will it read that he may remain in the property until he either dies or if he intends to move, if he was to move that would mean selling the house and our share would come to us then. My mother sadly died and within a few months another woman moved in. We do not want this woman to be in the home my mother made a home and clearly it is not well looked after because it's a mess and the building needs attention. It also stated in the will that he must look after the property and not let it get to disrepair but we have been there recently and there is water coming through causing a lot of damp. What is a shame is that my mother never thought he would find another woman therefore she clearly never mentioned this in the will. ADVICE PLEASE- can we force him to sell? If so, how easy is it? 

To be clear, who is 'he' that is living in the property - the stepfather (and new woman)? 
What does the lender think about selling the property? If the owners of 97% want to sell that's a stronger proposition than 50%. 

You still need to get over the life interest the stepfather has - this is unaffected by another person living there, so I'd try to ignore that fact (albeit painful I know) in any communicaitons as it'll only rile up emotions and/or detract from your stronger points. The only potential argument is that he hasn't kept it in good repair. If that will make someone who had a right of occupancy homeless, then this may be a tough sell and there might be more chances given to allow him to get the house to scratch before forcing him out.