Question about inheriting a house

[Qcng]

Hello
Can one sibling force the other sibling to put the house on the market if one sibling does not want to, (sibling A wants to keep house and rent it out, sibling B wants nothing to do with the house but refuses to sell their half to sibling A, wants to sell to perfect stranger instead).

Does sibling A have any ground to stand on legally to keep the house/buy sibling B out)?

Also, as someone who works in the trades, If your husband can do basic maintenance in this house but not an unfamiliar one I would not want him touching anything! You either know how to do something properly or you don't. Yes each house has it quirks but I would expect a competent individual to be able to solve the problems they are faced with. He could be doing more harm than good otherwise.

Bluntness
We currently live in a terraced house that we own outright (no mortgage or rental outgoings).
The little amount of benefits we receive will be out of the picture after, leaving us with just a small income of our own which is why we're looking to find a rental income rather than just capital dwindling away in the bank (most banking type investments are notoriously low-return so we're probably not going down that route)

Thanks for your useful comments re costs.

korabora all good points thanks and hadn't thought about taxes.

Then buying it makes sense if cash flow can be maninteined. To maintain the property,

You've not answered the question if your husband is offering his sister full market value for his haLf?

I would stay away from renting if I were you. It has the potential to go drastically wrong. If your tenants don't pay their rent you would not be getting your income and would have to pay to have them evicted and may have a trashed house at the end of it.

That's not to say the money just needs to dwindle away though. If you are expecting around £1k+ per month income it must be worth a decent amount. Maybe look at using the funds to retrain and build a more sustainable income for your family? If you remained frugal with your cash you could still have plenty left when your family income is much higher and invest some of the funds properly. All investment carries risk and generally you need to be able to hold out to see long term returns. But the risk with a rented house is much higher. If you are determined to go down the rental route I would buy a smaller place and have a large financial cushion in place.

I think they are expecting just over 500 a month from renting? So it's not a huge property,

But having rented out properties I do strongly feel you need a financial cushion, I agree, it's not like owning your own home where you can wait for things, it needs to be done and it needs to be done quickly when something goes wrong,

You've not answered the question if your husband is offering his sister full market value for his haLf?
Sorry, yes he's prepared to offer that. Atm B is not prepared to accept any amount from DH so I guess we'll have to work with the solicitor on that

OP sorry I can't advise but I might be in this position later in life so I clicked on the thread

I hope my mum will be with me a long time so haven't looked at the legality but my understanding is that my sibling could simply refuse to sell to me, yes. In the same way that any vendor could say no to any buyer, so to speak.

I think you just need to go through the solicitors then, as the sister is being unreasonable.

I'd have the solicitor point out that as much as she can refuse to sell to you guys. You can also refuse to sell to anyone else. If she is getting full value for it, then there really is no reason she should say no.

if you send to auction you can't bid, no one who is a seller can bid on own items as it is seen as shill bidding to drive up price you need to see a lawyer it seems DH and his sisters relationship is broken down but you are going to end up with an expensive stalemate and before you know it cash will have disappeared in lawyers fees unfortunately if B insists on a sale that is what will happen

The relationship has broken down, and B cannot force A to sell to him. I also agree that only a competent person should be doing work in any house, so that should not be a deciding factor. Even if B bought half the house from A, there would still be stamp duty due on that purchase.

Sell the house, then look to invest what's left in a rental. You are making this needlessly complicated by insisting that this particular house is the only one that you can rent out.

What does the will specify about the house, op? Myself and my brothers were left my parents house (and all other assets), but it had to be sold to fulfill the obligations of the will, not that we had any quibble with this as a family.

sorry didnt realise the beneficiary couldnt bid at auction. Wonder if their wife could?

Anyway executors have a legal duty to obtain a reasonable price. So if B is prepared to offer slightly more than anyone else offers (get 3 valuations and offer the highest one) then A could suggest that if B doesnt take it they are failing in their duty.

Simplest thing is to sell up and rent another house or flat out. A flat would require less work and you'd soon learn the details of another property.

I doubt the wife could bid either, but a 2nd cousin could
this is true of any auction not just houses, antiques art cars etc

@Lucisky

do you mean the will stipulated the house must be sold?

Sorry what’s this thing about can’t deduct expenses from a rental? I thought the change was can’t deduct mortgage interest cost.