Bought a small holding the owners are chopping down the trees.

[justasking111]

Not exchanged yet but the owners offspring are now chopping down the trees presumably for firewood to sell. Do friends have any rights before exchange or could all the trees be gone before they buy it?

Are they being unreasonable to be upset or is it fair practice before exchange?

I was concerned that the friend states the owner of the property is alive and that siblings hold POA s.

The point is POA doesn’t override a Will.

So the property cannot be sold. End of.

It may be the Will bequeaths the property to one sibling for their lifetime.

This proposed sale suggests Title theft.

There was a case in Weiteveen in the Netherlands where a son had to, against his will, sell a property, which had been in the family for over a hundred years. He kept turning up and arguing with the new owners about the changes they were making. The police were called numerous times but it ended up with him shooting the new owners dead.

That depends on why the property is being sold. Holders of a property and financial affairs POA absolutely can sell property if the POA is active and the sale is to benefit the person who the POA applies to. So eg a POA holder could sell the land to cover residential care costs. A POA absolutely can override a will. A will has no relevance until the testator dies. For the purposes of the will, items mentioned in a will which have legitimately been sold or otherwise disposed off (eg stolen or broken) before the testator dies are treated as though they don't exist.

To clarify the AI response which I quoted AI also said that application has to be made to the Court of Directions to obtain a determination to allow POA holders to override a Will.

In the case in question what would be the impact where all the POAs are apparently not in agreement and also where it’s possible one sibling could be made homeless.

Medical evidence is required confirming the medical condition of the person who created the Will.

oh AI....and edited AI at that! well that must be right then NOT

The buyer should said stop right now or I’m pulling out, but it seems they’ve just said please stop.

Well Godmum56 AI may be right or wrong but the clarity and sense of the response allows opportunities to gain further information especially when seeking advice from a solicitor.

AI makes no profit, has nothing to gain.

This allows the friend to make further enquiries but my common sense tells me that a Will cannot be overridden without a Judges decision especially in dealing with Titles to interests in freehold land and estate

There is even a word for it, its called ademption. Sadly your common sense has failed you. A will made when a person was competent to do so has no legal weight until the person has died. Provided that the holder of the POA is acting in the best interests of the person for whom they hold POA as in my example of selling something to cover residential care costs, then the POA holder can go ahead and do it. Yes it can get nasty if there is more than one POA holder and they do not agree but it has nothing to do with the item's being listed in a will. Once the person has died then POA's have no authority or relevance and the task of obtaining probate and distributing the este goes to the executor(s) of the will or whoever applies for letters of administration. If the sold item is held in trust or is entailed then of course different rules apply but if the testator owns it and is alive then somene holding POA can sell it on their behalf.

What on earth are you talking about?

The contents of someones will are irrelevant until the person is dead.

It is a statement of wishes regarding your assets after your demise, not before. If you want to leave someone a bunch of things in your will and between writing the will and dying, you sell, give away, set fire to, fire into space... those things, so be it.

POA means someone else can make that decision for you if you can't make it - if its necessary for the benefit of the donor, then they absolutely can sell things mentioned in the will, they may have no choice but to do so to cover care costs, to repay a local authority or private care firm. Such a decision is only likely to get any scrutiny should someone complain (and they'd need to do so before the donor dies).

This thread has a slightly unhinged vibe.

If there are compelling reasons to change a Will then an application to the Court of Protections (with apologies not as I stated Directions) for what is called a ‘statutory’ will.

This has nothing to do with changing a will.

As I understand it.
The OP is the prospective purchaser.
Land was offered for sale with trees on it.
The trees are being removed.
Contracts have not yet been exchanged.

While the OP might want to check if there are TPO's on the trees, that won't replace what has been removed.

Finally!!!!!

This!

I’m not sure I’d want to proceed if I was your friend. Feels like something will drag on even after the purchase completed… 😬

Exactly - and what other damage/sabotage will happen. If there is a resident sibling, they may find a way to put off any buyers to force the others to let them stay.

TPO's are mostly applicable to urban trees, Felling Licences to rural ones