what on earth to do with inheritence?

[marymaryquitecontraryusedtobeafairy]

I've been left a house which to sell now would bring me about 80K in the bank.

I'm poor. I bring in about 24K/year, and am in masses of debt. I just survive. I'm a mum and I work and get benefit top ups. I'm council housed in a dire part of the country, the house is in a slightly better area but I don't wish to uproot myself and children from school and home.

What do I do? Can this help me get out of the poverty trap? Do I live off the money? Live in the house and enjoy a secure home but remain in poverty? I can't afford to do the house up but can I possibly buy a very cheap or auction place, do that up and start flipping houses as my main income?

Look I'm not that bright but I've worked hard all my life and it's just not good enough financially. I decided to be a care worker because I enjoy it but the pay alongside the increase in prices has crippled me and there's no way to get out of it so I just trudge on day by day. I'm not miserable nor are my children but I don't want to waste this opportunity.

I don't have money for a financial advisor right now nor time to research so I'm hoping you clever and wealthy lot can help me out a bit with pointing me in the right direction.

Thank you.

Following on from a point made earlier. It doesn't necessarily follow that better area = better school. My DS's school is the best in town but there are literally drug dealers hanging around outside and the surrounding housing is a mess of graffiti and litter. Dead easy to move into catchment as no one in their right mind wants to live there and a cheap short term let is always available, so places at the school are difficult to get. We were lucky to get in from out of area.

How is she meant to magic up the required funds to keep an unoccupied house going for 6-12 months? 🙄 Not to mention CGT on any value increase if she decides to sell, given that she will not live in it?

She is ignoring very pertinent questions regarding the legal ownership of the house. It’s important because the Land registry is currently many months behind on registrations.
She may have been registered but it might not show for many months, then she can’t sell the house for a set time period afterwards.
Does she even know if the property IS registered at all ( by the previous owner) ?
If it isn’t, she / the Executor would NEED the physical paper Deeds.

We went through months of hell trying to track down the deeds of my FiL’s unregistered house, of which there are still millions in this country.

"Or I could just not tell the council about the other house, do my right to buy, then suddenly pay off the mortgage in full, or would they be like 'hey where's that money from? are you a drug dealer?'"

When you buy a house you need to be able to show where the money is coming from. For RTB, it doesn't matter if, for example, a relative is providing the funds - but you would need to be able to prove that the funding comes from a legitimate source (ie a relative's savings) or from the sale of an inherited property or that you have inherited money from a Will etc. and that you are not money laundering.

You can't not tell the council about the other house and you will need to inform the benefits agencies you currently receive money from, anyway.

I suggest the OP studies this document carefully: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1160177/Your_Right_to_Buy_Your_Home_A_Guide_-_2023.pdf

One final point, before I duck out of this thread.

OP has said the house she has inherited is worth around £80,000. Is that before or after marketing and legal expenses? If you do decide to put the house on the market, you won't necessarily receive offers as high as Zoopla estimates. On a low price property, the estate agent will likely be looking for a quick sale and may pressure you to drop the price after just a few weeks, if the house is generating little interest. House sales have slowed down this year and will slow down even more in the run up to Christmas.

So you will need to factor in the estate agent's fees and solicitor's conveyancing fee and any costs involved in tidying up and clearing the property before you put it on the market. If you find a buyer, the buyers may have a bad survey and may try to negotiate a lower price or demand that specific problems shown up in the survey are fixed by the seller before they will proceed.

Anyway, whatever you decide to do, OP, I wish you luck. But please obtain some professional advice about your situation and how best to proceed. I've seen some pretty reckless suggestions on this thread.

It’s obvious by the many stupid/ reckless suggestions that most people have no understanding of inheriting property and the role of executors dealing with an estate.
It doesn’t help at all that OP has given scant information. The answers to my questions are vital to knowing what can be done and when. It’s hugely irritating when you are trying to help.

I wonder if OP has even bothered checking the Land registry, that’s the very 1st thing I would do as the beneficiary. Hell the executor(s) might not even know about the unregistered property ‘trap’ .

She hasn’t said WHO the executors are, or even if the deceased was a relative ( unless I missed it)?

If you are in the right to buy scheme, find out how much it would cost to buy your council property. I bought mine for 64k and sold it for 230k! I don't think they'll let you keep it anyway, if you own a property.

BorgQueen: Does she even know if the property IS registered at all ( by the previous owner) ? If it isn’t, she / the Executor would NEED the physical paper Deeds. We went through months of hell trying to track down the deeds of my FiL’s unregistered house, of which there are still millions in this country.

It costs £3 to check the Land Registry to establish whose name is on the Register. You do not have to be the owner of the property to do this:

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

(Don't use one of the independent companies who provide this service - they charge more.)

"Get a title register

"The title register usually includes:

• the title number
• who owns the property
• how much the property was last sold for
• whether the property has a mortgage
• details of any ‘restrictive covenants’ - promises to not do certain things with the land, like not building on a particular area
• details of any ‘easements’ - the rights of one piece of land over another, like a right of way

In some cases, the title register will not include the details of the restrictive covenants or easements, but will say which documents do."

It’s when you do the LR search and it comes up as property unknown that the fun really starts. 😳
I wouldn’t wish that kind of stress on anybody.
It took many hours on the phone and months to track down FiL’s deeds. If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had the original Woolwich mortgage papers from 1972 and one Woman at Barclays to whom I’m eternally grateful, who knew where to look in deep archive storage, it would have cost us thousands to recontruct the deeds legally.

From what OP has said, I think she meant that the council house is worth less than the aunt's one, and she would qualify for a discount. She has been living in the house for some years, I think local authorities have ready reckoners online where you can check what this would be. She might just about break even, although I think the discount is now capped - years ago they were so big that people were buying RTBs with bank loans!

It’s normally a 30% discount for 5 years occupancy, around here anyway.

She hasn’t said WHO the executors are, or even if the deceased was a relative ( unless I missed it)?

I think OP mentioned the property had belonged to an aunt.

But yes, OP seems very vague about who is dealing with the estate, ie who the executors are and whether they are family members, a probate firm, a solicitor or bank. (If a solicitor or bank - anticipate that probate and the settling of the estate will be dragged out and expensive.) OP needs to know who is handling the estate and as a beneficiary, she should request a copy of the will, if she has not already been given one by the executors.

paradoxical - yes you can take our LL insurance, but when we looked into it there were lots of exclusions. If I remember correctly, it wouldnt have applied to our most difficult tenant because she was on benefits (her partner had left her and moved out).

OP also needs to be aware of the "executors year"

https://coodes.co.uk/blog/what-is-the-executors-year-and-what-does-it-mean-for-a-contested-probate-case/

Thanks for the explanation - I'm sorry you had such a costly experience with your tenant.

me too paradoxicalfrog. once our two current excellent tenants move on we are selling up as dont like the long list of regulations (which are only getting longer) and stress.

@Blossomtoes @XiCi

I appreciate all the advice, which I would otherwise not be able to pay for, but I think calling it madness comes from a somewhat privileged position.

Where I am, it’s cheap rent, secure, it’s my tenancy for life. I just got a new boiler, if I had to pay it would be a grand that I don’t have, then what?

This new home will need floods, fire, contents insurance (probably some insurances I'm unaware of) which is money I don’t have monthly, and I will save 0:00 on rent as it is already given to me by universal credit. I won’t have to pay rent but I also wont get my rent paid, it cancels each other out.

So if the boiler breaks in the new place once I'm moved in that’s it, I’m completely screwed with no boiler. There’s no way I'd be able to come up with a grand, ever.

If this house floods me and my kids are moved immediately to accommodation. If the house I own floods it’s a case of what I believe is a laborious and stressful process of going via insurance? And until that’s sorted we’re what? On the streets? So it’s a situation where my kids could well be taken off me as I couldn’t care for them, and that could even be permanent. I know that’s a longshot but it’s a possibility that would likely end my life due to stress.

Also where do I get the time to deal with that insurance?

Moving into that house is secure on one way but it’s also a liability in many others. In fact a house is a liability until you sell it or rent it out, and I’ve come to realise that renting it out is more hassle than it’s worth.

So it’s not madness to ask. It would be madness to make a decision without asking and since I am poor I only really have MN to ask.

And again I really appreciate people taking the time to come and offer me help. I'm hard working, not smart working, and my kids will suffer because of this so they are helping my children.

Then it sounds like you would be best trying to buy your council house, OP. I hope you are eligible to do this. Always good to own outright and think of the rent you'll save on as you get older. You need good advice from the authority, DWP and possibly a solicitor to see if this route is open to you. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

@reesewithoutaspoon

Yeah this is what I'm struggling with. It does seem a no brainer to move into the house but it will also make me liable for absolutely everything and I feel vulnerable in that way.

Yes all my rent is paid and it’s very low, less than £500 a month.

So I'd move in, be in this job, and still keeping my head above water, but then the boiler breaks, then what?
So I feel like staying put or trying to buy this house instead but I may just need to speak to the council about how to do that using the new house and whether my discount would still apply etc.* *

@WishIranonBatteriesNotSleep \that;s a really cool idea, and I will speak to them thank you

@DonkeysForCourses

People keep saying this but this is obvious. I don't want to be on benefits, I'm more than happy to lose benefits. I just need to decide what to do practically.

@JoeyRamonesHair it's nice to see this as I was starting to think I was missing something.

That's exactly it, a house is a liability. An asset is something that makes you money. Owning a home means you spend.

I'm not higherly educated (this is a reference, I'm pretty literate), but I think that is just common sense?

@SouthernLassies I appreciate this, I'm limited due to childcare.

I also do work evenings and weekends already but the more I work, the more charges I incur in things like school meals. It's a catch 22 I suppose. If I lose free school meals that's over £200 a month and I only need to earn £20 over the entitlement then I incur that fee, and I don't have that spare, and an extra £20 a month won't touch it, my kids wouldn't be able to eat in school.

I do not want to be poor but I just never did any other job.

What do I want to be? I like being hands on and working with and among people, I like making decisions and having my wits about me.

I do not like and am not too good at performing admin tasks as I lose concentration very quickly and make mistakes.

I'm so experienced in care that the record keeping and problem solving that comes with I've become accomplished at.

Progression in my work would take me to a level of pay just above support but just below being able to financially cope. So I've not done it.

@SouthernLassies I have A levels in social care and English. I failed general studies, it was just so boring.

I worked in care during my A levels, loved it, and never stopped. the progression roles take me out of benefits support and into tax payments which would bring in less than I do now and cost me more in outgoings.

What about selling it and putting a huge deposit on another place with a mortgage that was extremely short? Is that feasible?

I don’t know if you’d get a mortgage with 20K debt even with a big deposit.