What happens if a sibling refuses to leave an inherited property?

[rikesays]

Brother living in jointly inherited property, worth originally around 300UK pounds…not sure and don´t want to think of the state of the house and worth now!
Refusing to answer the executor´s requests as to when he will move out , so the property can be sold and shared equally between 3 siblings, no other beneficiaries.
He has lived his whole life with one parent, never paying rent, never paying household bills until our father passed, 4 years ago…and has only worked 2 years of his life.
He has lived rent free in the 3 bedroomed house since Dad´s death, only paying bills.
He is now mid 40s
His income/savings are purely from other relatives´ wills.
He is refusing to converse with the executor, and has dishonestly stated that his 2 siblings have agreed that he can stay on in the home.
What would be the proccess now in the UK , including timescales and costs…hopefully to him and not the estate.
This is in the hands of the executor, and probably courts, but just wondering if anyone has experience of how it pans out, and if the estate will be worth anything after 4 years ( Dad passed 4 years ago) and maybe what to expect.
Thank you!!!!

Yes, is this a possible option?

Even if it was done at a lowest level market valuation of the house it might save a lot of angst, time and money.

I had a similar situation with my brother threatening to contest our late father's will and claiming he had been 'promised' the house he'd lived in, rent free, for many years!
In the end we agreed to allocate a 'low' market valuation to the house so he could almost 'afford' it within his inheritance, and I effectively lent him the difference and had a charge applied to the property so that the money came back to me, or to my estate/kids in the event I pre-decease him.

I was furious with him for being so obstructive, but figured that this solution avoiding the long, drawn-out pain and cost of a legal battle/eviction etc, and it allowed me to move on with my life.

Thanks so much for all your answers and interest....
It continues!
This is from the court appointed executor.
He was initially 'asked' to leave the estate last September! ...and they continue to write , costing God knows how much!!
Should I agree to option 2 , and get this nightmare over with?
I mean, what has the executor been doing all this time?
And.....is there a chance at all of the cost of the numerous letters to him, and then the legal action coming from just his share and not the whole estate??
Wild dream I know....

' continues to occupy the property and has not responded to our repeated requests for him to vacate. We are currently considering options available to us in terms of seeking possession of the property. However, as this would be a claim brought by an Administrator of an against one of the beneficiaries of that estate, we may need to obtain a Beddoe order from the court first for the court to approve us taking such an action. Beddoe orders are typically relatively expensive and time-consuming to obtain, but another option would be for the non-occupying beneficiaries to sign an agreement to expressly authorise us to seek possession and to indemnify us, as administrator, in respect of the costs of the application (i.e. to ensure that we, as Independent Administrator, would be able to recover our costs of pursing litigation from the estate). Could you please confirm whether you would be willing to sign such an agreement?'
(from the not very active executor!)

The costs should be recovered from the person refusing to leave.

yes, should be but I don´t know that it will happen!

Did you not get large inheritances from those relatives too?

yes, and i was very grateful…. but i worked full time, still do, paid rent,paid bills, like almost everyone else….
thanks but not sure i get your point

So? Does that mean that one beneficiary can unilaterally choose to keep the property portion of the asset?

Ot are you implying that OP should fund the eviction process herself?

Either way, the property inhabitant is breaking the law by keeping someone else’s legal inheritance for himself. This is the point of a will—to determine who inherits what.

"...we may need to obtain a Beddoe order"

Things can get very complicated indeed when you start talking about a Beddoe Order.

Depending on exactly what the dispute is then a Beddoe Order may not even be appropriate. Where it is the individual beneficiaries that are in dispute with each other then often it is the case that the executor and/or trustee should remain neutral and not get involved.

In this situation, it can be down to the individual beneficiaries to fight it out between themselves.

There is an organisation called The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). Solicitors that have passed the exam to join this organisation will generally be very experienced in this area.

I would strongly suggest that you search for a STEP solicitor near you (google something like "STEP solicitor [name of your town]") and speak to them about your situation.

But the first step is to get a possession order. If the executor is not doing this then the beneficiaries may well need to step in.

A Beddoe order is simply confirmation from the court that the executors are justified in pursuing litigation, and that they are authorised to charge the estate for their work. However, it's normally used where there is a dispute between the beneficiaries, or there's a difficult legal point that needs a court decision. That's not the case here.

Is the independent administrator a solicitor? It sounds as though they are. However, I can see no reason why they should not recover their costs from the sibling against whom the possession order is required ("the defendant"). By definition, he will have an asset with which to pay those costs, namely his share of the estate, so they're not at risk of getting a costs order they can't enforce.

I would therefore be inclined to reply (ideally on behalf of all the beneficiaries) saying that there's no need for a Beddoe order, and that you will jointly indemnify the administrator against the costs of obtaining possession, but on the basis that they will do their best to recover the costs from the defendant, so that the indemnity should only be needed if they aren't able to recover all their costs.

The reason you need to say this is that if you don't there's a high risk that the administrator won't bother pursuing the costs against the defendant, and will just bill the estate at their full rate.

But if I were in this situation I'd be inclined to ask the administrator to confirm that they will limit their charges to whatever they can recover from the defendant. This would almost always mean them accepting a lesser amount, so they may refuse. In that case you should consider asking them to instruct another firm of solicitors to handle the possession proceedings, as there are many specialist litigation firms who will agree to limit their charges to whatever they can recover from the defendant.

thank you soooo much!
very detailed, clear and unbelievably helpful advice!

The estate could have earned 4 years-worth of rent from the property, so surely he owes the estate the equivalent of what the other beneficiaries should have received in rental income over that period. He is solely responsible for rates, utilities etc, since he has been living there.

exactly! without being too greedy....that´s my point! thank you!

Although the OP didn't answer my question as to whether the independent administrator was a solicitor it seems fairly clear that they must be, in which case they should be dealing with it themselves.

Also, this is not a TOLATA case - that would only apply if the occupant had some sort of right of occupation under a trust, which they clearly don't.