Divorce - can one partner prevent you doing the house up to sell for more money?

My_Own_Little_House · 21 January 2019 at 7:16PM

Hello :wave: My parents are starting down the divorce route but nothing has been discussed other than the marriage is over and trying for the last 12 months has failed so they are calling it quits. There is quite a lot of work that needs doing on the house such as putting a new kitchen in (it's the same one as when they moved in 30yrs ago!) but my mum is worried that my dad will just want to put it on the market as it is straight away as he'll not want to spend anything on it. I have looked and houses in our area "done up" can go for £350k + so it'll be more than worth it as it's currently worth about £200k (it's 5 bed detached with lots of potential but has been neglected)
My question is, if one person doesn't want to do it but the other does then what happens? If my dad doesn't want to then my mum (and him) stands to lose a lot of money so it would disadvantage my mum. My dad has always been in control at home though with it being his way or the highway so my mum's worried that she won't get a say. Any advice?

Thanks :A
Xxx

Pollycat · 21 January 2019 at 7:46PM

If I was buying a house, I'd want to choose my own kitchen, not somebody else's choice to 'tart' it up to sell.
Ditto for bathrooms.
Ditto for decor

Has the house been valued?

Red-Squirrel_2 · 21 January 2019 at 7:50PM

I'd be very very surprised if a new kitchen and a bit of toffeeing up would really add 150k, especially when that amounts to almost doubling the value!

The cosmetic state of a house is a surprisingly small component of its value, what's most important is size and location.

Consider if it would be better for your mum to cut ties sooner if your dad is controlling, even if it means a slightly lower sale price.

tacpot12 · 21 January 2019 at 9:10PM

A related question is "Who will pay for the renovations?" If Mum wants to pay out and Dad doesn't, what happens?

Do they have enough spare capital to consider doing renovations? They might if part of the problem was that Dad was tightfisted whereas Mum would have been happy to spend money improving the home.

Dad can ask the court to force the sale. I doubt the court would rule in favour of Mum if she wanted to spend joint assets (or even her share of the joint assets) on an improvement scheme that is somewhat speculative. I think the court would side with Dad, and order it to be sold in it's current state. Mum could by Dad out at the pre-renovation valuation, and then do the improvements, and would then be entitled to all the profits.

I hope I have answered the question, albeit in a round-about manner.

My_Own_Little_House · 21 January 2019 at 9:45PM

Thank you tacpot. We last had the house valued in 2005 at £275k but this was inflated I believe due to the boom. There are only 3 other properties on our estate the same size and I have checked the recently sold prices on rightmove. 1 sold for £330k and the other £390 (the other was sold a while ago so discounting this) but they were all renovated to a very high standard. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens and what it would be valued at now. They have money which could be used for renovations. I'll ask whoever does to valuations what it is worth now and what it could be worth if they did it up. If there's nothing in it after paying for the work to be done then they would obviously sell it as is. I am trying to be unbiased in this as I am their daughter so it must be a fair outcome but I also want to stand up for my mum if she's unable so she doesn't lose out potentially. Thanks for your advice. I'm hoping from the above posts that we'd be pleasantly surprised anyway by the valuation. X

TBagpuss · 21 January 2019 at 10:36PM

I think you need to encourage them to get it valued now (get marketing and sales advice from at least 3 different agents) and encourage your mum to then make enquiries about what any work would be likely to cost, and what it might add to the value.

I think that, in general, cosmetic things such as redecoration , or updating a kitchen or bathroom, tend to make a property more saleable, but doesn't usually add much to the price. However, it's a conversation to have with the agents . They won't, normally, make any criticism of the house, but if you say "I/we know that the kitchen is very tired - would it change the price if we were to replace all the units and appliances, or is it better to price it to sell as is? " and then you can ask whether there is any specific work which would enhance the price. She would need to be up front about what issues there are with the property, as the agents won't be able to comment without.

If she does go down the route on improvements before selling, then she would need to make sure that she had good evidence of the condition of the property before the work was done (possibly a valuers report, not just estate agents advice or her own photos) and afterwards, so she has evidence of the value she has added.

However, smaller stuff like decluttering, tidying up the garden etc may be a better thing to do - make the property look attractive, and cared for, if a bit dated .

Mojisola · 21 January 2019 at 10:50PM

When I sold my father's house, it had the original 1960s kitchen.

The house was priced to allow for upgrading - and that was stated in the particulars - and the eventual buyers fitted the kitchen they wanted. All our potential buyers had very different ideas on what changes they wanted to make - none of them matched what we would have done if we'd done the work.

Ilona · 21 January 2019 at 11:14PM

My house needs a lot of work doing to it. It's fine for me. I am not going to spend anything on tarting it up, because when I do eventually sell, the new owners will want to rip it all out and re do it to their specifications. I don't want to go through all the mess of building work either. I will drop the price accordingly to reflect the condition. I will still be making a lot on it because I bought it at less than half of what it's worth now.

IMO it's a waste of time and money updating a house to sell it. If a divorce is imminent, just de clutter, tidy the garden, and sell now.

ilona

My_Own_Little_House · 21 January 2019 at 11:35PM

Thank you everyone, lots of great advice here! I'm just trying to get answers to things before emotions start to take over. After all, they've been together for 47yrs so everything will change for the whole family. It's a bit overwhelming at times to be honest. Anyway, thank you again x

LandyAndy · 22 January 2019 at 10:18AM

Another vote for do nothing except make it clean and tidy.

System · 22 January 2019 at 10:28AM

No kitchen, bathroom or decor will add 150k to a property. More like 20k more.

Divorce - can one partner prevent you doing the house up to sell for more money?

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