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.

At most I would have thought you are responsible for 50% of the bills. If the other part owner lived there it would be different but the property is empty.

The most important thing is to make sure the property is insured and, in this cold weather, is checked regularly for cracked pipes etc. as you don’t want the house devalued.

I assume you are the administrator and as you have a key I would give the other owner notice that you will be visiting the empty property on a regular basis to check it is OK. As the other owner doesn’t live there you are carrying out reasonable checks in your capacity as administrator.

So many people jumping on this thread and telling OP she’s wrong about not being on the legal title to the property. OP is entirely right. It’s land law basic stuff.
Beneficial interests are not recorded on the LR title, hence the restriction. That’s doesn’t guarantee OP will get her share of the proceeds of sale of the property, but it makes it much more likely she will as any buyer will want the surviving joint owner to appoint a second legal owner as trustee.

In answer to OP’s question, as the property is empty the legal owner, who holds as trustee, should pay the property costs but they are entitled to reimbursement from the beneficiaries in the same proportion as their respective shares.

Thank you. I was starting to think to was losing the plot (no land pun intended).

So the owner needs to pay the costs and then I would need to pay them back for half (could I do this from proceeds of sale?) and this would include everything - maintainence, utilities, council tax (?), insurance?

Yes - I think you need to check about household bills - also another thing a solicitor explained to us - I am not sure if this applies in your situation is that

1. As both of us are married he said that if either party were to divorce then our partners could include the half of the property in a divorce settlement.
2. Either party or their married partner could take out loans secured on their interest in the property and all would be involved if the loan was defaulted on - a bank could force the sale of the property

These situations would only potentially arise if the other owner doesn't put the place up for sale of course.

1. Also I think that seeing as you are planning on selling you should check on how you stand legally regarding general DIY decorating , fees for estates agents and conveyancing etc as the other owner may try to get you to pay half - we are taking ours out if the estate funds 1/2 each at the end but your situation is a little bit different to mine.

Thank you, that's interesting (although I'm hoping not to get divorced any time soon!).

I assume I will need to pay half the estate agency / conveyancing etc. I'm not bothered about that, it can just be taken out of the sale price. It was more having ongoing costs for a possibly extended period I'm worried about, and if I'd need to pay them upfront when I don't actually have any money to do that.

I hope everyone goes well for you and your sister with your house sale.

I’m currently selling my Dms house - slightly different than your situation as she DID leave a will and I’m the executor. It was owned as TIC with my stepfather 80/20% in DMs favour, and she left her share to me and my siblings . SF is in a care home and I have Deputyship so can act in his behalf.
Currently, no one is paying out anything for council tax / Insurance / utilities. These bills are in the hands of a debt recovery agent. Once the sale goes through, all the debts will be paid out of the proceeds, including estate agent and conveyancing fees, then the remaining money will be split 20% to SF directly from the conveyancer and 80% to me as executor. The insurance, however, is paid by myself as executor and SF in an 80/20 split.

Your difficulty is that the person who now owns the property and is delaying on selling it should be paying all the associated costs but is refusing to do so. The sale costs should be paid from the estate then the proceeds split.