Dispute over Irish property sale during divorce: use an intermediary?

[Barbarella73]

My sister and her husband moved to the UK from Ireland four years ago. They are now divorcing and trying to do it with minimal solicitor involvement. So far it’s been okay, but just a few weeks out from getting their decree nisi, a difficulty has arisen in relation to a property they co-own in Ireland, which was rented. Their tenants made a good offer, but my sister wants to put it on the market as she thinks it may achieve more. She is looking after the sale of the property, and her husband is looking after dealing with the bank to agree an alternative repayment arrangement until the property is sold. My sister wants to use a particular estate agent in the same town as the property (the one who gave the highest valuation, which he has since revised downwards). Her husband is concerned that this estate agent has only sold two properties in the last six months (there is a housing crisis in Ireland and the property is in a seaside town near a city), and so he wants to use a different agent. My sister won’t consider this. The payment break that the bank agreed to is expiring soon, and the bank has offered interest-only for another 6 months. My sister is annoyed, as she was expecting the payment break to be extended. She told me that if he doesn’t, she won’t pay her share of the repayments until he does agree.

i’n concerned that my sister may be making a bad decision out of pride. Would it be better if she and her husband had some kind of intermediary to deal with the estate agent? His second valuation was lower than the offer the tenants made, and he recommended refusing that offer at the time. Does anyone know if there are such intermediaries in Ireland?

This might be better off in Legal - they can probably tell you how messy it gets selling a property when both parties can't agree. Or maybe relationships? For guidance on how to navigate a divorce property sale.

"she won’t pay her share of the repayments until he does agree."

I imagine, but can't say for sure that this would breach the terms of her mortgage, the lender will come after her, she'll get a CCJ, and then won't be able to get a mortgage herself. It may also affect her divorce settlement if the husband is paying for everything.

"but my sister wants to put it on the market as she thinks it may achieve more"

Idk about Ireland, but in England, tenants can point blank refuse access to estate agents or owners showing future purchasers around - they have a 'right to quiet enjoyment.' Does she think they're going to be happy to help her when she's trying to sell their home from under them?

This all sounds a bit misguided and heading for disaster to me. Hopefully some other folks will chip in with their views; I've never had to sell a rental!

Forgot to add my own personal view, which I think a fair few people may share. I would never, ever buy a property off a divorcing couple, because my fear of it not being amicable and one of them putting a spanner in the works because they don't actually want a divorce, so they make life difficult for the other seller, or just refuse to sign the papers at the final hour. Or, one of them's greedy / two adults paying for a home that can house kids (even on weekends) costs a lot of money so they'll do whatever they possibly can to achieve maximum price, even if that means allowing gazumping.

I don’t know the market in Ireland, but prices are falling in England, or at best, stagnating. It’s a mistake to choose an agent based on their valuation of the property. What’s important is their selling record and particularly, their record for selling houses locally of a similar type.

Your sister is not thinking logically. What’s important is that the property is sold as quickly as possible, so they can make a complete break. Trying to force the issue by refusing to pay her share of the mortgage would result in trouble for her.

Thanks for this, you’re absolutely right, I’ve asked Mumsnet to move this to legal.
The repayments have been made from a joint account they hold. If she stops lodging repayment funds then she will be in arrears yes. As will her husband, even if he lodges his share of the repayment. It is a bit of a mess really, and she won’t listen to me. The tenants are moving out - after their offer was rejected, they bought another property and will be moving into that soon. At least that’s something.

prices are sky high in ireland due to a shortage of housing stock. Selling for 20% above asking

Also in Ireland better to choose a local EA who knows the local market

The EA she has is local. But there are other local options - it’s almost like she won’t change because she doesn’t want to admit she was wrong about the current EA. The sale would have gone through already if they had accepted the tenants offer, but the EA thought they would get more on the open market. And how he has revised his valuation downwards, to €10k less than what the tenants offered a few months ago.

Good grief tell her to take the tenants offer while they can.

& in the meantime they're still paying a mortgage.

If the tenants are reliable & can proceed I'f take their offer

Housing prices in Ireland are insane. It’s not unusual for houses near me to go for between 50 to 100k over the initial asking price and I live in a nice but not super fancy area.
Op your sister needs to go back to the tenants and agree a price with them, it will be the easiest way to get it done and dusted.

She can’t. After their offer was turned down, they put an offer in on an other place that was accepted. They’re moving out soon. She’s being really stubborn about everything - as if changing the EA will be like admitting she made a bad call with him. He must be rubbish if he’s not selling all the time in this market. I can’t seem to get through to her.

"it’s almost like she won’t change because she doesn’t want to admit she was wrong about the current EA."

Statistically speaking, your sister stands a far lower chance of selling the property if she moves it to a 2nd agent. So, although she might be doing out of stubbornness, she is actually doing the right thing.

"On average 71% of properties will eventually sell but with a second agent that drops to about 50%"

TwentyEA are a firm who gather market data for estate agents, but I've heard similar statistics spouted time and time again by less invested sources.

https://news.twentyea.co.uk/blog/do-over-fifty-percent-of-homes-sell-with-a-second-agent

"The tenants are moving out - after their offer was rejected, they bought another property and will be moving into that soon. At least that’s something."

I would strongly, strongly recommend that she only puts the house on the market (again?) AFTER they have physically left, because:

a) They're divorcing, people know dividing assets is messy and may avoid

b) Idk about Ireland, but in England, it can take a year or more to evict tenants, so if their house purchase falls through, it will hold the whole process up, her buyers will be disappointed and keeping an eye on the market for something better to come up

c) People who are living in terrible rentals (I was one til recently) will make a beeline for vacant properties, it will be far, far more attractive to a bigger pool of people and

d) If any minor DIY things need doing, she can do them without interruption and finally,

e) The tenants could badmouth either your sister OR the house; god, I'd need a full two hours to tell you all the things that were wrong with my last rental which probably needs around 150k spending on it to bring it up to working/properly habitable

Your sister needs to push the EA on a regular basis to find out what they're doing to progress getting feet through the door. Statistically speaking, she SHOULD stick with that agent. Over on Property/DIY, where I spend most of my time, the overwhelming opinion of posters who are asking about properties being moved to a 2nd agent is 'what's wrong with the house.'

Try not to get too tied up in this, it's stressful, your sister is an adult, she has to be responsible for her own decisions and actions.

But if she refuses to pay her share of the mortgage she will get a CCJ and get blacklisted by every mortgage lender, credit card company and buy now pay later firm out there. She won't even be able to get a mobile phone contract. That's the thing I would stress if she were my sister. 'I know you want your own way but you will royally eff your credit rating up for at least 7 years, so just don't do it.'

@KievLoverTwo houses are selling in Ireland. You barely need an EA all they do is open the door & take offers. I viewed a house for a friend moving home from abroad. Needed a lot of work. They had 3 firm offers on the viewing night.

The sister just needs to get her finger out & move on. Even if she sticks with the original EA she needs to make him so his job & get the viewers through the door

Yeah, I've heard the market is mad.

Tbh, it's possible neither of them want a divorce and she doesn't want to admit that to her sister. If the decree nisi is only a few weeks away, it's the only thing holding them together.