House inheritance impasse

[anonymous-user]

Hi
Asking for a friend.

Friend and 4 siblings have inherited the family home.
Sibling A wants to buy it without it going on the open market.
Siblings B & C agree.
Siblings D & E want to test the market to get a true reflection of house worth.

How do we move it forward ?

Any comments as to the legal position in Scotland ?

Siblings A, B and D are executors.

[sociopath]

Waitforme said:

Hi
Asking for a friend.

Friend and 4 siblings have inherited the family home.
Sibling A wants to buy it at a bargain price
Siblings B & C don't want the hassle
Siblings D & E don't want to lose out on their cut

How do we move it forward ?

Any comments as to the legal position in Scotland ?

Siblings A, B and D are executors.

FTFY.

To be honest, it'll never resolve if there's no trust between the siblings. I sold my mum's house last year and the hardest thing was balancing siblings views, and in that case none of us were looking to make a quick buck, just that we lived in different parts of the country so had different views on the house value.
If there's some ulterior motive then it will have to have 3rd party involvement, either a few estate agents to get a sense of the market or a surveyor.

If sibling A gets it super cheap then hmrc might start to take an interest anyway

[Gman20]

Jasey_ said:

The Scottish "offers over malarky" make this doubly tricky.

Put it on the open market and the sibling can put in an offer to be considered along with any others.

Executors have a duty to get the best deal for all beneficiaries.

How does it make it double tricky ?
Seems like a system perfectly suited to solving this problem.

[rxe]

Get an estate agent (chosen by the reluctant) to value it.
Sibling A can buy it at that price or walk away.
If Sibling A buys it, then they all get the certainty of a rapid deal, and save on agent’s fees.
If Sibling A doesn’t buy it, then they all have to pay agent’s fees and face the inevitable time wasting,

[Far Cough]

Sibling A wants a cheap deal which will not sit right with the others that want fair value. The only way is to get it valued a couple of times, take an average and try and I’ve forward that way.

[Paul the Painter]

If say to get a paid for validation. That is naturally agents will try to say it's going to go for more than it will eventually.

Take paid for validation, deduct agent fees and possibly a reasonable amount for the opportunity cost of not having the cash straight away in the event of a normal sale.

The reluctant beneficiaries should be the ones to instruct the valuation, everyone should have sight of the valuation instruction (i.e. valuation should be on the basis of what it will sell for, not what it should be marketed at) the buyer should pay for the valuation.

Before all this everyone should agree on the approach, and there should be no recriminations if the buyer pulls out (as they are the one risking the fee) or if it comes in lower than the others thought

[InitialDave]

An agreement that if the house is sold again by A within a certain timeframe, the increase in value is split evenly between all five?

[Terzo123]

Get three independent valuations, then use the average of those three as the value.

[aparna]

Terzo123 said:

Get three independent valuations, then use the average of those three as the value.

Scottish valuation is weird in a hot market. If houses are selling 10% over valuation, people expect the valuation to be on the low side The surveyor has little to lose if they undervalue the house, as the low valuation just serves to increase interest in the property. But if they overvalue the property, then that causes problems, as reductions in a hot market signals a lemon.

You would need to explain the situation to the surveyor so they don't try to second guess the market. It might be better to limit the surveyor involvement to passing the house as fit, and get a freelance estate agent to provide the valuations.

[TVRnutcase]

Put to a public, well advertised auction.

Price on the day is the market price, no one pays any more or any less, and if A is aggrieved that he overpaid, just all chip in for the last bid, so he will paid no more than the underbidder.....all sorted.

[Gavin0478]

If you go on the rightmove website it will give you an estimated property value which is fairly accurate. No idea if this exsists for Scotland though.

[Teddy Lop]

If it was A's intention to play straight they'd be more than willing to demonstrate by any reasonable metric fair pricing to the others, anyone with their head screwed on right wouldn't want the baggage of what might come otherwise.

[valiant]

If sibling A is also a joint executor then they may need reminding that they have a duty to ‘get the best price’ and full value for any property they sell.

They could leave themselves wide open to a legal challenge if one of the beneficiaries smells a rat that they got the property cheap.

The property should be marketed properly with valuations from at least 3 estate agents and sold on the open market. Scotland is different so Sibling A should submit a bid along with the general public and hope they win.

Being a executor is a serious responsibility that can have far reaching implications if not done properly.

[Over over under steer]

Terzo123 said:

Get three independent valuations, then use the average of those three as the value.

This is the best answer, that's what I did when selling one of my houses to my sister. Three valuations, took an average, plus £10k off for the lack of fees and hassle, and we went for that.

Easy peasy, family relations preserved.

[Bennet]

Gavin0478 said:

If you go on the rightmove website it will give you an estimated property value which is fairly accurate. No idea if this exsists for Scotland though.

No way that's necessarily true because you'll get the same valuation regardless of whether the place is a dilapidated heap with signs of subsidance, or is in pristine condition with a new kitchen, bathrooms and every room freshly decorated and a recently added swimming pool.

[Dixy]

What a sad reflection this post and most of the replies are on relationships, greed and jealousy.

[Muzzer79]

Dixy said:

What a sad reflection this post and most of the replies are on relationships, greed and jealousy.

I'm not seeing that?

I'm seeing a query regarding a house transaction and mostly suggestions of how to resolve it.

I can't see much mention of greed and jealousy, other than presumptions from a few about 'A's motive.

[sleepezy]

The only thing I'd add is to ensure D&E understand the impact it would have on them - presuming even distribution their share of the movement will only by 20% whereas mentally they'll likely be looking at the full value change.

Personally I'd go down the Estate Agent valuation 1st to at least see if A is offering sensible money. If it's anywhere close it's probably not worth the hassle.

[Meeten-5dulx]

A spread of EA to provide valuations, take the average and deduct the costs associated with selling on open market (£5-10k).
This gives a fair representation of where the value lies and offers liquid cash quicker to these that don't want to keep it.
It also prevents A from making a quick buck and potentially falling foul of role for the estate.

[Riley Blue]

Over over under steer said:

Terzo123 said:

Get three independent valuations, then use the average of those three as the value.

This is the best answer, that's what I did when selling one of my houses to my sister. Three valuations, took an average, plus £10k off for the lack of fees and hassle, and we went for that.

Easy peasy, family relations preserved.

Similar to us when my Dad died. Everything, including his house, was to be split equally between my two sisters and me. One of them (who was also an executor) wanted to buy it and had it valued. My other sister and I asked for two more valuations and we agreed on the average of the three - happiness all round.