Name on Deeds of house - does this stop debt being secured on property?

[RandomMess]

Very long story short (is a friend but will pretend it's me as it's easier to word)...

Inherited a 25% share of a house, another sibling has 25%, step-parent 50% and have managed to get my name added onto the deeds.

The house was supposed to be sold (no living interest in my share etc.) or us receive some rent for our share if they wished to stay in the property. No warm loving relationship between parent & step-parent. Plus step-parent managed to get their hands on parent's savings whilst they were suffering from dementia so they are certainly wealthy now.

Could go to court but would cost a lot and may not win.

So will presumably get share when step-parent dies.

Is my name being on the deeds enough to stop debt being secured against the property, being informed of it being sold or do I need to do something else like put a charge against it to red flag that the current occupier is not the sole owner????? There is a likelihood of step-parent trying to do the dirty...

Also perhaps check the title register on line at Land Registry once a year in case the step parent tries to make some kind of fraudulent change to the ownership.

Make sure the Land Registry have up to date contact details for all owners, otherwise any info ( re charges etc) will just be sent to the house, and your friend might not get to find out about it. Not quite sure what you mean about " no living interest", this is not quite a legal technical term.
It sounds as though there is a trust for sale, in which case an order enforcing it should be fairly straightforward to obtain.
But I'm wondering if the will of the deceased gives the surviving spouse the right to remain for a specified amount of time. Otherwise I cannot see what the problem would be in enforcing the trust for sale. Are you sure you have all the facts?
In any event, I'd recommend proper legal advice, taking a copy of the will or grant of Administration for inspection by an expert.

I meant that surviving spouse does not have the right to remain in the property however the solicitor and barrister have stated that there is no guarantee if they go to court that they will succeed or get rent in the interim and if they don't win it will be costly.

I will give them the rest of the advice though, that is very helpful. How do you check the title on the land registry?

www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry
You need to pay about £3 to check the title register on that link and you will need the property address including post code. I would print out the result of your search too and save it. It shoudl show the registered owners. I think you can register with a different non government site to obtain all the property deeds too which I suppose might have more detail on the ownership structure in them if you need that.

So you are saying that your friend has already had legal advice, she should have been advised as to what other steps she can take to protect her position.
Any reason she couldn't move in there herself, or move in lodgers? It might force the issue if she did.

It's worth signing up to Land Registry's Property Alert

propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk

Then you will receive notice if anything happens with the title - eg, if you are borrowing money on a property, the lender will submit a search first to protect their interest, and you would be informed of this.

You can set up an alert for up to 10 properties - they don't have to be yours. Quite useful for, say, keeping a lookout on elderly parents properties - property fraud can be a risk for this group who have typically paid off their mortgages.

As I don't know much about it myself there is a limit to how much I know to ask them. I asked if they'd put some sort of charge against the house to protect their interest and said they had no idea but they had now been added to the deeds.

Strangely enough they didn't want to move 45 minutes away to live in a 2 bed grotty property sharing with an unkempt step parent who had originally said they would be selling up anyway...

It is actually distant relatives who are the vultures circling and seem to have persuaded them not to sell up so it's all a bit horrid tbh.

I will tell them to set up that alert that is the sort of thing that will help protect them.

Thank you for your advice, it's all very well having a solicitor but sometimes you don't know what to ask or what to do. Personally I'd have forced sale because the step parent would have more than enough money to buy a much more suitable sheltered accommodation property in a much more appropriate location but it seems the vulture have their eyes on getting something out of it all somehow