Simply don't know what to do.

[Cantgiveitaway]

4 years ago we inherited a house. It has been on the market for the entirety of that time. It is on sale for approx 25% of market value. Reasons below:

The property is non-standard construction and therefore unmortgagable (we have explored this extensively).

It has a sitting lifetime tenancy on a peppercorn rent. Tenant is in their 70s and in good health.

We cannot sell it due to the above.

For those unaware, lifetime tenants cannot be evicted and the rent is very tightly controlled. We have increased it to the maximum allowed every year for the 4 years we've owned it. It still doesn't constitute £1000 a year.

We do not have any more money to put in to the property. We've done the legal required stuff. We've explored legal avenues for eviction ABD offered to give (gift) the property to the sitting tenant.

We basically need someone to come along with enough money to keep the property legally for 20+ years before they can do anything with it.

The most recent gas and electricity safety checks and the EPC have shown significant work needed in the next 12 months to keep it legal. We can't do it. Our only option is to sell our home that we, move in to a much smaller property in a different area (moving children's schools and away from family) and renting ourselves.

We have 0 savings because of the house and cannot afford basic things for our own home.

I just don't know what to do.

WWYD? We literally cannot give it away - we offered it to the LA and to a social landlord and a landlord with an extensive portfolio in the area and all said no.

In 20years, when the tenant dies or moves in to care the land might be worth something (and therefore sellable) but we can't wait that long. We had absolutely no idea the property existed until we inherited it and I've no idea why we did.

Any out of the box thinking here from the hive mind?

Gosh and they've set the fair rent that low, or have they capped how fast you can increase it? If the latter then the improvements you've done should allow you to apply to lift the cap on increases

And there is absolutely no way out of this tenancy? Less than £700 a year in rent is mad.

Why assume an elderly person with SEN has saved a lot of money through cheap rent? That does not follow at all

No, they were done away with in 1979, they are a relic, but a very few still exist

There isn't anything she can do apart from gift the property to a developer or someone who is willing to sit on it for up to 20 years before they can realise their investment.

ETA assuming she's had specialist legal advice. If she hasn't, I wonder why on earth she would have come to Mumsnet instead!

He probably didn’t understand the burden it would cause

If you're unable to sell it at auction...have you asked the tenant whether he wants to buy it ?

A member of my family had this kind of tenancy, I believe, and did buy the property in the end.

This i suspect.

I don't think great uncle even knew the tenant. He lived abroad most of his life and is only slightly older than the tenant. I suspect, but don't know, that he inherited the property from someone.

No. No legal way out at all until the tenant dies, chooses to give it up or goes in to residential care.

Something like a "hostile beneficiary " I did this with my mother's will as everything was in South Africa and I wanted my sister to have everything. Its a simple process but too late now.

Ask the tenant if they want to buy it is becoming the new cancel the cheque 🤣

@Cantgiveitaway

Look into forming a limited company, use the company to buy the property from your husband, run at a loss for a while then liquidate. The liquidator would usually disclaim interiors and loss making property to the crown.

That’s a very simplistic view - you need legal advice but look into it as it could be a way out.

As long as you don’t have to pay stamp duty. Is it below the SDLT threshold?

Well you've just said that you wished you had refused the inheritance.

But please do get legal advice and stop asking people on the Internet for unthanked help.

What would happen to you (legally) if you just did nothing? No more repairs etc.

Yes, they've capped it.

We did the repairs and improvements to get the cap lifted, but due to the next lot of work needed they refused to remove it last time but if we do the rewire and boiler, we should get it lifted next time but it's obviously not guaranteed.

Well, if the boiler goes and the tenant has no hot water then they could go to environmental health who could enforce us to do the work. We could go to court if we didn't. I think that's a civil rather than criminal matter.

If the old electrics cause a fire, then we could get a criminal conviction.

Could you get a surveyor in to determine whether the property is habitable? Am thinking that if it’s a prefab, you’d need an asbestos survey before doing any rewiring etc. Point being, the cost of all of that would far outweigh the building’s worth. It just wouldn’t be viable, or a reasonable cost. And the tenant would have to move out (to where, and at what cost? Yours?) while asbestos removal was carried out.

Surely, a surveyor’s report like that would be legitimate grounds for evicting the tenant? And prefabs were never designed to last this long either.

What would/could the council do though? Would they normally end up taking the property from you as a last resort?

What a bloody nightmare.

Have you looked into setting up a LTD Co. so that it is not owned by you personally therefore you are not personally liable, the company is... so when the company cannot afford to maintain it... no longer your problem?

Offer to sell it to the tenant for a peppercorn price. At least it will be off your hands and will give them something to pass on to their heirs.

Apparently... if it costs more than you have, to repair and bring it up to legal standards, that might be your get out. You'd have to prove you that it is financially non-viable to repair/maintain, that you don't have the funds to do so, and probably let the tenant take you to court where you can then prove this and they would say its illegal to have a tenant in it... so the tenant has to leave.

However if it were that easy I am surprised your legal advisor has not explained this already.

The tenant has been offered it for nothing - the tenant is not dimwitted enough to take this option as likely, they cant afford to get the work done to maintain the property either (tens of thousands, more if the concrete is failing).

It's definitely habitable (legally).

If it needs work that means the tenant can't live in it, they can make us pay for temp accomodation and the tenancy just carries on once they can go back. If they can't go back, they are entitled to compensation.

There's a reason these tenants were stopped. They are a bastard to get out of.

Is it likely to bankrupt you as a couple?

If so the out of box thinking I'd do - after trying eveything to off load it for nothing by evey means possible - is talk to a divorse solicitor and talk them through the problem and see if you can limit one half liablity and when you need to consider this - and if you seperate financies can you still live as family with no liablity - (like medical divorce in US)

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-13791739/Desperate-homeowner-tears-roof-house-tenant.html

It made me think of this man who got so deperarate tried to dismantle the house he owned with teannat he couldn't get rid of.

I know someone at work stressed out renting her flat - she moved in with her bloke - to pay mortage she rented and she was stressed out with solitor fees and how long it was taking nearly 2 year because tennat would start paying a bit and courts then take that into account. Everyone was like just change locks and she was like you not legally do that and the costs just kept mounting the toll on her menatl health and actula health was very bad.