Selling inherited house when sibling living in it

Your sister has been riding the gravy train for her entire adult life, she ain't gonna go quietly!
I would get everything organised and sewn up before she realizes that you are serious about following your mother's wishes as expressed in her will.

As a first step, has the ownership of the house been changed to the 3 siblings with the Land Registry? My advice would be to try some sort of mediation as there will be consequences for not sorting this out, CGT on sale for the 2 non-resident siblings if the value of the house increases from the probate value, Stamp Duty on the sale if you buy each other out, potential double / triple council tax etc.

The only relevant post on this entire thread is the one that states the OP has to follow her legal duties as executor.

Seek legal support OP.

I dont think its realistic to expect your sister to obtain a mortgage at her age, her career and personal history proves shes just not up to it, hence avoiding you.
You need to try to support her find alternative housing.

As I posted this is thought, actually it wouldn’t matter as I have no clue as to what it means anyway 🤣

Of course she’s going to be upset with you, you want to turf her out of her home. Can you get a mediator involved to talk things through?

Your sister has benefited from partially or fully subsidised accommodation for her entire adult life. It’s time for her to take responsibility. For all you know she could have thousands saved.

There’s absolutely no point in offering her more as a) it’s your job as executor to follow out your mother’s wishes as per the will b) your sister’s expectation is clearly to have it ALL so will never be happy.

She may not speak to your afterwards anyway as she feels she is entitled to the house. Just follow the will and be done with it.

Be careful she doesn’t take all your mother’s possessions too. My SIL and BIL did that. Log the full estate, with photos, value and sell / divide amongst yourself. Sell the house before she gets too settled. It’ll never be a good time and she may even be racking up bills in your mother’s name still. (Seen that too!)

It was your mum’s wish to divide it 3 ways, so it should be done like that. After the division you are each free to do as you wish with your own portions, but in the first instance your mum’s wishes should be respected.

I agree with this, and also the previous poster who pointed out that your sister saved thousands every month in care home fees looking after your mum, and presumably made sacrifices in her own life to do so - my mum paid over £6,000 per month, and her home wasn't a particularly expensive one. I think it would be life changing and extremely harsh to force your sister out of her home. Of course the money from the sale of the house would be very beneficial to you and your sibling, but you don't need it in the same way that your sister does. I understand that you have to follow the terms of the will, but there's nothing to say that you can't change how the money is divided up if you're all in agreement. My parents had been divorced for some time when my dad died, and his will left everything to my brother and I, but we decided to share the money from the estate equally with my Mum because she was struggling financially and we felt it was the very least she deserved after being married to him for 35 years.

I don't know, hence the need to find out if she had grounds to contest the will.
Or did I misunderstand your question?

Your DS is a grown adult who took the easy route and stayed in her mothers home at little cost to herself.
What did she think would happen in her mothers inevitable passing, that she could just continue the easy life?
The more legal intervention needed means more costs and less of the inheritance. She needs to understand that

Executor here but mum's house is empty.
We had to get:
Electricity/gas, in my name, paid by estate.
Insurance - luckily the same company is happy to carry on for six months with it empty, but then we need to find a new company. I bet they wouldn't be happy with a family member living there without a tenancy.
Council tax, relatively easy but again coming out of the estate.
Water, bills are on hold till the property is sold though they did have an option for someone living there.

What many people are not taking into account is that the sister was living there for years before OP mum became ill. For many years rent free. So the care she gave has to be balanced against that.

https://wards.uk.com/news/probate-disputes-ongoing-occupation-of-a-deceased-persons-home-what-do-you-need-to-know/

Terrible. Clearly yeh mother wanted it split 3 ways.

I wish that people would not comment when they do not have a clue what the law is. I also wish that people would not take up the role of executor when they don't understand what it entails and how they can be held personally responsible, and liable, when they do not carry out this job properly.

@Dutchhouse14 If you are the sole executor then you have fiduciary duties, one of which is to act in the best interests of all of the beneficiaries. If you allow this situation to drag on indefinitely then action can be taken against you, by the beneficiaries of the estate. My very strong advice is for you to take independent legal advice as soon as possible. You should not be thinking as a daughter or as a sister, you should only be thinking about what your legal responsibilities are.

You do have the 'executor's year' but time can run down very quickly in case like this.

In addition you will struggle to obtain buildings insurance for a property with an occupier without a tenancy agreement. Any buildings insurance should be in the name of the executor. Do not give your sister a tenancy under any circumstances.

Your sister has no legal right to be in this property. She is a licensee. Yes, she benefits from one third of the house and the estate generally (I assume that the estate is divided into three shares?) but that does not give her any rights to occupy.

In theory she may have a 1975 Act claim against the estate but I would not recommend that you tell her about this. It is up to her to seek her own legal advice.

Just go and speak to a contentious probate solicitor ASAP.

I appreciate she’s grieving.

But it sounds like she’s not even engaging with her siblings about it. She’s not sat them down and said “here’s how I think we should handle this. I’d like some time in the house to grieve, get a plan, get things sorted. But I appreciate you want access to your money as well, so could we agree a timescale for selling that works for all of us?” In my opinion, this would be totally reasonable of her.

They’re all grieving. It’s not carte blanche to refuse to engage with your siblings about the will. She’s basically refusing her siblings access to their inheritance.

This. I suspect the DM thought she had ticked all the boxes but clearly there is some kind of clause that’s more like squatters rights. I bet if the mother knew she’d be annoyed

In effect, yes, that's what it is, point is it happens and can drag on for years, decades even!!

Look yourself at what she could reasonably obtain with her 1/3 or more if you are feeling generous
She may come round that starting afresh is better than living in a wreck
I also imagine she hasn’t thought about maintenance costs which by the sound of it might be considerable

It’s like squatters rights 🤣

This is exactly why, when I redo my will in the next few weeks or months I will be stipulating in it that not only do my assets pass in equal share to my three DDs, but that they MUST BE SOLD. There will be no further remaining permission for any of my children to live there.

I really don't get why people leave half finished wills without doing that. It does mean that one stubborn sibling could effectively disinherit the others for years to come if they won't/don't move out. I've seen cases where this happened and it took decades to resolve.

You do need legal advice here, and I suspect you will need a court order to get your sister to move out. Unfortunately, as I am sure you are aware, that could end any relationship with her going forward. That is the result though of an unfinished will like this.

Good luck.

Given that the average cost of care fees in a residential home is at least 5 grand a month, had your sister not been caring for your mum, there may not have been a house to sell

This.

We know she gave care, we also know she lived there her whole life, she could make an estoppel claim on the basis that she was verbally assured by her mother she would be able to say (difficult to prove, mores to disprove) and that she acted to her detriment (very easy to prove) in providing free care.

This would't change the will, but could be ruled by a judge to delay the eventual splitting of the asset whilst the sister stays in residence.

My cousin launched such a challenge to his brother, he's still in the house 16 years later, they are both on the deeds, but it cannot be sold whilst the resident brother is in situ

This happened to my 3 cousins and the one living in the house was able to get a mortgage to buy her two siblings out. They agreed to get three valuations of the property and they sold it to her at the lowest valuation.

Could your Dsis afford to get a mortgage to the value of 60% of your late mother’s property, or maybe slightly less as if you sell to her you will not incur any Estate Agency fees. If she not able to obtain the mortgage for the full amount it sounds like your other sister may be willing to donate some of her share to the purchase.
As the executor you need to follow the instructions of the will. I would start with a discussion with your sister about how much she is able to pay to remain in the property.
If this approach doesn’t work, it sounds like you will need to take legal advice on if (& how) you can evict your sister from the property before you sell as she may have legal rights to remain.

Point is, it's not about moral duties, legal duties. The OP as executor has to sort it out, presuming the three of them are the only beneficiaries of this asset, that doesn't have to mean a sale, simple re-registration of the property in their names would suffice.

But to the OPs original question the legal position is clear, assuming she has probate she can list the property.

The sale will fail without the sister in residence agreeing to vacant posession

An order for sale would need to be sought

A court would hear the arguments

Various outcomes would be possible, not all ending in the sale of the property depending on the validity of the resident sisters argument.