Estate agent acting illegally?

[Nepotism]

Complicated situation...... MIL died leaving her house to her two sons. DH obtained probate with power reserved.....then he died too. I am his sole heir and executor. Under the Chain of Representation, I understand I'm now also MIL's executor (confirmed by bot a solicitor and HMCTS.

BIL is living in the house rent free, has stolen enormous amounts of money from MIL and put the house up for sale with his son's estate agency.

1. I was neither consulted about the price nor asked to sign a mandate.
2. House has been on the market for three months with no EPC. I thought this was illegal.
3. The listing does not show that there is a relationship with the seller. Shouldn't it show a declaration of interest?

I've been trying to resolve this for a very long time. The agent's professional body won't discuss it with me until I've followed the agency's complaints procedure....ie written to my nephew!

What I'm really asking is which laws he has broken so I can refer to them in my complaint.

Thanks!

Yes there should be an EPC although it doesnt necessarily have to show on rightmove and it should say, somewhere in the description, that there is a connection between seller and estate agent.

hope you manage to get this sorted as it sounds like he is trying to keep all the money from the sale.

Thanks. He's admitted no EPC has been done! He says the company are too busy....

That's what's worrying me, although I'm hoping they won't be able to appoint a solicitor without probate, which I have.

You can put an alert on the home address. So if any searches are done, you will get an email as to who exactly has searched. Her majesty’s Land Registry.

There has to be an EPC to sell a house; but it can be conducted during the sale process - ie, it just needs to be in place before it's sold, I believe. It doesn't need to be there when it's listed.

I'd be putting an alert on with the Land Registry, if you haven't already, so that you are notified by anyone who conducts searches on the property... and you can contact any solicitors who do so.

I'm not sure on the legalities of needing to declare a conflict of interest in a sales listing; so I can't comment on that.

Who owns the house? Is it just your BIL or do you legally own half of it?

I own half

Thanks, that's really useful!

I’ve had to do this on my mother’s property as my db is still —squatting— living in it. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him 😏

So sorry you have all this going on following the loss of your DH.

If the house is a listed building an EPC is not required.

Surely the main issue is that he is selling it at all, without your permission?

I presume you are not on speaking terms with your BIL?

How has he stolen loads of the money?

I suppose there could be an advantage if the nephew is selling the house free of charge?

Could the solicitor who advised you send a letter?

It’s important that the your share of the proceeds of the sale go directly from your solicitor’s account into your bank account.

Thanks, I can honestly say it's making me I'll

House not listed.

Solicitor has written telling him he needs my permission to sell and that only I can sign the mandate and that he must return or explain the spending. He's ignoring it.

There's been a year long police investigation into the theft so we're not allowed contact. Also he's violent and aggressive (multiple convictions) so I'd rather not!

Stole the money over a period of years using MIL's debit card. She had dementia and he had LPA with DH who was dying so not involved. CPS won't prosecute because the victim is dead!

I think I'm going to have to go to court to evict him because I think they're only pretending to sell. He's living rent free.

Have you had any advice on how to get him out? This will be my next battle

When I sold my parents house it didn’t have an EPC but the estate agent arranged for one to be done after the property was listed
it sold within a week though so I don’t think it had the EPC when it was listed and sold

((Hug))

I'm very sorry to hear about your DH XX

its awful having to deal with all of this on top. I hope your solicitor knows what they're doing & can get it all sorted for you. It's worth spending the money to have it handled for you.

The not declaring the relationship with the seller falls under the Estate Agents Act 1979. They have not declared they are a connected person under the terms of the act.

Properties need to have an EPC within 30 days of being listed.

Re getting him out, you’ll need to speak to a solicitor and likely take him to court to gain possession.

Sorry you’re having to deal with all this. He sounds like an absolute wanker

@Nepotism well, he has an option to buy me out. But, my dm conveniently changed her Will. I have her medical records and dm was singing like a canary to healthcare professionals. She’s had safeguarding flags. The solicitor is dodgy as hell. There’s only him and the secretary in the office and a link to my siblings odious friend. My dm declared that my bro was taking money from her. I know he used my dm debit card to pay for things she needed, but am worried he spent and took cash out. I know for a fact that he never paid any bills as he was using dm card to pay them. Honestly, he’s stabbed me in the back. I’ve put a caveat on the probate, so it can’t proceed. He doesn’t know.
I hope you can get rid of the bil out. It’s going to be a task, but if you’re now executor you can act. As for the EA they need probate to be complete before putting a sale through any solicitor.

Thanks (great name ).

Wanker is an understatement.

Thanks, it's strangely comforting to hear someone else is going through similar.

The estate agent son is breaching the money laundering regulations. He is required to have evidence of the owners (ie land reg check) and he has knowingly marketed the house without permission from all owners.

It's not a criminal conviction (unless he's also done other things) but could make things difficult for him if you report him to HMRC (by giving them your information in a Human Intelligence Report and the facts of what he's done).

His business will then hopefully be investigated by the money laundering teams - can guarantee he'll have other breaches if he's willing to overlook something so important.

Marketing prior to completed probate is also a breach of the regulations so if he happens to have done this too, include that.

Worth a report if you want to add pressure. Could lead to a financial penalty or other sanctions.

Sorry don't know how to get him out of the house but my ex had a similar issue with money and a thieving relative (gran's daughter with POA taking everything) and the police weren't interested at all which was infuriating. I hope you have better luck.

Thanks , interesting. I have the deed of probate in the name of my late DH.

Hmmm, money laundering- Land Registry would still show late MIL as owner but presumably he should still be checking my identity?

@Nepotism He would need up to date evidence of who owned the house which needs to match with who is selling it. If he said he 'knows' his dad isn't a money launderer it wouldn't wash as an excuse.
He needs to be able to show the probate documents too so if that's in your late DH's name then he again can't evidence the correct trail of paperwork.

He should be taking a copy of your ID too as part owner so if he eventually does include you in the paperwork do NOT let him talk you into backdating any documents you sign because not taking copies of documents at the correct time is also a breach of the ML regs.

Thanks. He seems to be digging himself a very deep hole. I've no intention of handing over the Grant of Probate or any of my ID because I don't trust him. He seems totally ignorant of the law.

@Nepotism They sound like a delightful pair. Good luck with everything and I hope they get their comeuppance.

Thanks @PissedOffNeighbour22 , they are absolutely vile, I can't believe DH was related to them!

@Nepotism definitely contact Land Registry and ask if the title can be changed into your name as executor of (name) estate.

I don’t want to provide too much personal information but I recently obtained a copy of a Land Register that I expected to show the proprietor as someone who died 10 years ago where I knew probate had not been completed. I was surprised to see it was in the executors name as executor of the deceased owners estate. This maybe a rare thing to do but is worth a phone call.

1. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert free service to be notified of any applications relating to the property.
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updating-registered-owners-contact-address free service where you can add your email address as one of the 3 addresses permitted so correspondence can’t be intercepted. It also means you get notifications of activity by email.
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/contact-hm-land-registry#phone phone contact details.

@Premiumbondbaby that's really helpful, will do.

Another sleepless night worrying about this 🙁