Beneficial interest (inherited) rights / responsibilities?

[VerityUnreasonble]

Glad of any advice!

I've inherited half a house. It was owned as tenants in common so I understand the legal title passes to the other tenant and I have a beneficial interest. No one lives there at the moment. No will so no life interest or anything else like that. Plan is to sell (which I believe the other tenant in common has to be responsible for).

My question is while waiting for the house to sell, am I responsible for paying bills, utilities, council tax etc. and do I have any right to enter / occupy the property. Not really planning on living there bit it would be helpful to understand.

I'll take it back to a solicitor and ask if needed but thought I might get some quick answers here.

Has probate been applied for ?

Yes, probate applied for and letters of administration issued

What about IHT and other costs? I would wait until everything is settled.

There's no IHT to pay or other costs. There's basically no estate. Just this half a (not very expensive house).

I understand what happens with selling it. I just need to understand if I have to pay for things while waiting for it to sell which could potentially take some time.

I think that as the legal owner the other tenant in common is responsible for those things, but I'm not sure.

There's a lot of back story and in other circumstances I might offer to pay half no matter the legal responsibility but in this particular case I just need to make sure I understand the legal position before I do anything.

@VerityUnreasonble The house is the estate. How are other expenses being paid? You don’t own it yet so take responsibility when you do. Unless there’s going to be huge deterioration of course. Burst pipes etc. Can you get into the house?

Sorry, I meant there is no estate other than the beneficial interest in the house. I do have a key to the house so could technically get in.

I will never "own it" in the sense of being on the legal title, that has automatically passed to the tenant in common.

Currently some bills are still in my deceased parents name, some are in the name of the other tenant in common. I can't keep the accounts open in parents name long term though.

There aren't any other expenses unless I'm being stupid? I'd guess if there was anything like a burst pipe it would be sensible to pay for half to protect my interest?

Maybe set up a legal agreement on who is responsible for what. Obviously maintenance is the big issue. Usually an estate will comprise of property, savings, cash, and expenses are solicitors fees.

I'm not a solicitor.... but I'd have thought if you inherited half you would become the other tenant in common. I'm unsure why you say the other tenant in common now has full title

Ah thank you, I suspect that will be challenging to agree. There was almost no savings / cash etc just some personal effects, and as of yet no solicitors fees incurred, just some free advice.

No, the legal title passes to the surviving tenant in common. The restriction remains so they can't sell the house on their own (they have to appoint a trustee) and I inherit a beneficial interest which basically means I'm entitled to the value of my share but not the legal title.

I agree with @titchy I don’t see how you can inherit something but not own it. If you want to protect the asset you must agree maintenance. Are you saying someone else owns the other half? That seems normal but do they live there? What might they agree to?

Why does the title pass to the other tenant in common? I understood that you would both now be tenants in common and therefore responsible in the split stipulated? Is there a trust involved?

Why does the title pass to the other owner though? That happens if it's owned as joint tenants. The whole point of owing as tenants in common is that one owner's share can be passed to another person who then becomes a tenant in common themselves.

You should pay half the bills.

I would have thought all the bills should be paid out of the house sale no matter who pays them in between times. That is out of the deceased estate and if there is no cash out of the proceeds of the house. If the other person was living there then they might have partial responsibility.

Who, and more importantly, where is the other TIC living?

hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2016/08/16/legal-estates-beneficial-interests-whats-difference/

It doesn't matter if you are tenants in common or joint tenants for the legal title. That passes to the surviving tenant either way. I only inherit the "interest" so the value of half the property.

The other tenant lives in another property they own. My parent also didn't live in the house (if that matters).

The other tenant basically feels I should be responsible for everything and is quite angry as they feel they should have inherited the sjare of house (this isn't what my parent would have wanted). So aren't very willing to negotiate. They will drag out the sale to increase costs to me if possible. Which is why I need to know if I am legally responsible for things like the utilities or not? The other tenant uses the property occasionally for holidays. I have never been there.

My understanding of this from your original post

1. House had two owners on title
2. One owner dies without leaving a will so their share has passed to you under the rules of intestacy ?
3. Other part owner disagrees with this but has to abide by these rules and share half with you

4 so only way to resolve this is to sell property and divide up proceeds between two of you assuming other owner doesn't want to buy you out of your half

1. Your name won't be on the title deeds as you are selling the property your half will pass straight to new owner and other half will transfer their title to same.

I am in a similar situation at the moment as I have letters of adminstration on a property left to me and my sister. We are both responsible for all bills on the property half and half until it sold. This is done through an informal arrangement. As we are residual beneficiaries meaning we have what is left after the sale As administrator ( executor ) it was my job to close all my dad's accounts. You don't pay council tax if property is in probate for a few months You will both need to decide whether utilities stay on or not and who is going to pay if they are staying then you can arrange for them to be paid out of the estate on completion of the sale. Or you would need to sort out between you who pays them ( direct debits). This is job for administrator ( executor) If you are not living there then you will need empty buildings insurance if it is not covered on current insurances It is up to administrator to notify any accounts and deal with above and they should keep you up to date and discuss anything with you ( they are not legally obliged to do so in England) I am using a complete probate service with a caseworker to help with mine and we will pay them when house is sold - if you don't have a good relationship with the other owner then I would definitely recommend this or a solicitor to handle things for you. Hope this is helpful Hope I understood the situation properly ?

The legal title does not pass to surviving tenant when the property is tennents in common. It would pass to the beneficiary under the will of the deceased owner, their share of the property would be need to be determined from the deed of trust which is usually signed when the restriction is placed on the deeds. All bills paid out of the estate and once the house is sold you inherited the value as dictated by the deceased will.

There was no will - so rules of intestacy apply .
In that case it doesn't legally pass to the beneficiary if property is being sold
The administrator signs over the title of behalf of the Deceased title remains in their name until sale completed.

Thank you for taking the time to reply in such detail, yes you are generally correct other than point 5 sort of.

I know people keep correcting me about the legal title and telling me this doesn't pass to the surviving owner but I have checked this with both the land registry and a solicitor who have both said it does. The legal title passes to the surviving owner, they hold the property on trust for anyone who has beneficial interest (in this case me). I have no legal ability to sell the property at all, only the legal owner or a court order can do that. When the legal owner sells they need to appoint a trustee and ensure that my interest in the property is paid (so I get the value of my half minus any appropriate fees).

When the house is sold the legal owner will transfer the title to the buyer as with any sale.

Obviously if there wasn't a surviving owner it would be different and if we could agree things, which I'd really like to, it would be straightforward to sort out informally but the reality is they will do whatever they practically can to make things as difficult and expensive for me as possible even at cost to themselves.

Difficult one - not sure then if you are legally required to pay towards bills or not,
In my situation we have to pay the bills between the two of us, it is me that is legally liable as I have grant of probate my sister and I had to agree informally to share those bills but I can't force her to do this.
But also means that should I choose to ,I could agree something without her permission such as sale price for the house for instance but she would have the right to take me to court if she insisted that I was wrong she could also get me removed as an administrator if she wanted but I could go ahead with the decisions if I wanted too.
I am guessing in your case that the other half owner could do similar to you so if you disagreed on property sale price for instance they could go ahead anyway.
But I don't know if they can make you pay half the bills legally.
My sister and I had an option to go tenants in common half each on ownership,
As we could have took the property on as a rental for instance but we decided not too as we would have argued all the time over bills and maintenance. So I sort of understand your situation but fortunatel for both of us neither of us owned the property beforehand.
Is there an option for one of you to buy the other one out ?

Yes, so I can't have any sort of say in the sale really (although I could sue the owner and the trustee they appointed after the sale if they did something like sell it very undervalue or refused to pay the 50% etc.) I don't have any legal right at this point to be involved. I could go to court and ask them to force a sale but as the owner is saying they are going to sell, and that would be an expensive process I'd rather not.

I guess I need to go back to the solicitor and get something in writing around the bills / house expenses, otherwise its just going to be an ongoing issue.

No option for anyone to buy anyone out, I did offer but the other tenant in common said they would only consider it if I gave them a 50% discount. It's not something I could ever afford.