Hi last year mu mum and my uncle inherited their parents home. uncle is currently living their but he and his partner want to sell, my mum does not, today it appears on a local estate agents website and rightmove.
The will gave joint ownership to mum and uncle and went through probate just fine. I guess my question would be, can one party put the property up for sale with out the other actually signing off on it?
I'd suggest he could put it up for sale, but I'd be surprised if he could actually sell it without her consent.
Nope. The selling conveyancer will need her signature.
Her brother might try to pull a fast one though, the solicitor might not check properly. Who's name is on the deeds? Has your mum physically seen the deeds?
As probate was straightforward and the property is in joint ownership I would say that property cannot be sold without both parties agreeing to it.
Your uncle may just be trying it on by marketing the house.
Either you or your mum could contact him asking what he's doing and pointing out, politely of course, that the property is in joint ownership and your mum does not consent to the property being either marketed or sold and he doesn't have the right to do so.
Let him know that unless he withdraws it from the market you will appoint a solicitor to act.
Give him the option of buying out your mum?
You and your mum buy him out?
IANAL
If your mum doesn't want to sell and he does can you not buy him out?
If it's like mother's flat when we (brother and I) inherited it we did not change the deeds. When we sold we had to prove using the will that both of us inherited it and all the paperwork needed both our signatures.
If it were me I'd speak directly to the agent, tell them the house is jointly owned and that one party does not wish to sell. Rinse and repeat for every agent.
Speak to the agent, as above, but if she doesn't want to sell, she should find a way for him to release his equity that is trapped in a house he doesn't want to live in - ie she should buy him out.
Why does your Mum not want it to be sold?
Surely your uncle is entitled to his half of the money - sell it and get it sorted out.
It will be much more straightforward in the long run for her to just buy him out. Don’t speak to lawyers unless you quickly want any value you have in the property to be extinguished.
First of all I’d spend £3 with the land registry to find out if your mum is one of the registered owners. If she is then I can’t see how it can be sold without her written permission.
If she isn’t then it’s a fairly simple method to register her interest in the property. This process is usually used for couples who split up and where the family home is only registered in one name, but it should be applicable in your mums case too.
Your uncle can object to this but it sounds like the adjudicator would find in your mums favour. Once your mum has registered her interest the house then can’t be sold without her permission.
Like to others have said above, ultimately there are two options: allow your uncle to sell the house and divide the proceeds; buy your uncle out.
I could be wrong, and probably am since nobody else has said this, but doesn't it depend whether they are joint tenants or tenants in common?
Can't remember which is which, but I seem to recall that one of them allows one party to sell their interest regardless of what the other does.
(Very unlikely that they own the house in that way TBH, but worth checking)
If your mum doesn't want to sell just because of an emotional attachment but doesn't have the means to buy your uncle out then that's not fair.
They need to come to an arrangement before they end up not speaking to each other. You'd hope that their parents weren't thinking their kids would fall out over it.
Get rid. Split profits. Done.
chevy, the law has nothing to do with fairness.
Money and family is not a good mix.
I never knew you could sell something you didn't own. I'm going to ring the estate agent tomorrow to put next door up for sale.
Maybe he's only selling his half 😁
Your mum needs to work out what she wants to do with the house. Just saying I don't want to sell isn't an option. As your uncle is wanting to liquidate the inheritance your mum's choices are to either sell the house or buy your uncle out of it. Presumably your grandparents left it to them with the intention of them either selling it or letting it out to generate income for both of them rather than them living in it.
Why does your uncle want to sell the house he is living in?
Why does your mother not want to sell?
Is he paying rent to live there? If not, then it would make a lot of financial sense to your mother to sell up and take her share.
I am also in the "your mum needs to get a haud of hersel" camp sorry. It is unreasonable to expect him not to self if he wants to liquidate the asset.
Having said that - he could mortgage his half - can you do that in English law? Then if it was ever sold his money goes to the bank and she gets hers. Whoever lives there pays rent and they go halvers. Fraught with potential for dispute and discord however!
presumably there's an emotional attachment involved, and a time (not enough time has passed) factor too. Add in (possibly) a bit of family conflict. It's feasible your mother simply wants it held "as it's not hers to sell" (I've had this with my mum and investments, stuff that 'belonged' to my grandparents (her in-laws) were not negotiable for sale or disposal apparently.
Why does he want to sell? So that he can buy another more suitable home? If so then why stop him? Or is he paying rent to your mother too?
If he moves out, leaving the house empty what would he & your mum do?
You need to help them both sort out the reasons for selling or not selling & suggest a path that's fair to both.
Rather sounds like your uncle is paying to keep up a house your mum has an attachment to. She either needs to buy him out and take on the costs herself or agree to sell. Her current attitude is pretty unfair.
Your uncle can also apply to the courts under ToLATA which would lead to an order to sell if the court agrees. That will get expensive and probably nasty. As hes also the tenant he will probably get the order to sell via the courts.
Probably time to have a discussion with your mum before this gets unpleasant.
Might be nice if Mr Tagnut came back and explained his mum's motivations and more of the situation to stop people having to speculate so much! Maybe he doesn't like the general gist of the answers.
Rather sounds like your uncle is paying to keep up a house your mum has an attachment to.
Conversely, the uncle only owns half the house so is he living in the house half-rent free?
The manner in which the uncle has gone about this is wrong as he should have got consent but I do sympathise with the uncle as this is his home and, if he wants to move on as his equity is tied to the house, he's now potentially locked in by the OP's mother
But yes, as above we can speculate all day on the circumstances
If your mum is on the deeds there is no way your uncle will be able to proceed with the sale if she doesn't want to, unless court action is involved. My first port of call would be to advise the estate agent of the situation - there's no way that they would want to "sell" a house that isn't proceedable. Then get your mum and uncle to sit down and talk sensibly.
The will gave joint ownership to mum and uncle and went through probate just fine. I guess my question would be, can one party put the property up for sale with out the other actually signing off on it?
Did the will give 'ownership' of the house to your mum and brother or did it give each of them 50% of the value of the estate?
We are sorting my late mother-in-laws house out at the minute and as far as I'm aware the house is still in her name until settled by the executers of the estate. The estate is taken as a whole (house, money, valuables etc.)
Who are the executers? Your mum and uncle?
Can you post a link to it on Rightmove?
We're all keen to take a peek
