Please help with my friends situation - her dad is sellign the house she lives in to help his skint partner

[ThomCat]

Her dad wants to sell the family home that she is living in (her inheritence) becasue his girlfriend has got herself in a finacial mess and needs help. Their answer - sell his house that my friend lives in and pays him rent for.

So - any general advise for her would be great but right now we wondered what she can get a motgage for?

She thinks she might have a deposit of about £60K and earns about £28k a year.

This woman also has a son (who doesn't live with them) but he'll get whatever his mum has when she passes away so it should be done fairly so that my friend isn't left with less than her son will get. Not sure how she goes about dealing with this.

It's very sad, because what should have been a family arrangement has been revealed for what it really is - a business arrangement. If she was renting a normal house and the landlord decided to sell - well, that would be that. Although quite possibly a landlord would want to sell to another landlord, with tenant in situ, so don't rule out that possibility. At least she wouldn't have to up sticks and move.

Unfortunately as others have said, there is no such thing as an inheritance when the owner is still alive. Although I can completely understand your friend's feeling of a moral right to inherit the property.

Assuming the dad isn't actually trying to shaft her, just solve a short-term problem, it might be worth consulting a solicitor to find out how he can attempt to safeguard her in the future; we co-own dh's parents' house, and so technically speaking, if we both died, our executors would be forced to sell that house so ds could realise his inheritance. Obviously we don't want to do that so we are in the process of setting up a trust deed which gives MIL a life interest in the property (so can't be sold from under her) but ultimately the money returns to us. Something similar might help to protect your friend although there are no guarantees there will be anything to inherit.

Looking into her rights as a tenant is also a good idea. Her dad has put this on to a business footing and she needs to look at it that way.

Please don't worry posting anymore.

I had my friend here sobbing and I thought MN might help with advice re her stepbrother getting his mums house as his inheritence and her getting possily sweet FA. She may get 60k, she's been told she will, we've told her to forget it an not count on it at all.

As she cried and talked to DP I posted to see if there were some gems of wisdom I could give her.

Thank you but please, we know it's his money, we know he can do what he wants, we know all of that, we're not stupid. I just thought someone may have a helpful line re the stepbrother thing more than anything or a supportive bit of advice I could feed her.

It's his money, no such thing as inheritence won't help my mate right now so, or ever tbh so let's just lave it there, please don't bother wasting your time posting 'it's his money' comments - we KNOW that!

I don't think, that once that money is in the possession of his girlfriend, that his daughter has any legal recourse, to be honest, which isn't very good.

She really needs to see a solicitor.

Yes i think you might be right Colditz, what a terrible thing to have to do, all a bit yucky really.

We have suggested things she can do. I'm sorry there isn't the magic wand option, but if there were, you would probably already know about it. She can - and should - explore a number of different options and I hope she and her dad can find a way to safeguard what she should reasonably expect to inherit.

I can completely understand that the loss of the family house is very upsetting for her. We are posting in an attempt to be helpful, perhaps that is unwelcome?

Tribot - of course not, not at all. I thought I had explained that I was asking people not to keep posting 'it's his money' type commetns. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough or if you misunderstood that. Helpful comments are obviously not unwelcome!

Shonaspurtle - Can her father make the money to his gf a loan to be repaid from her estate on her death so that your friend would still get that money? I don't know how enforceable that would be but might be worth consulting a solicitor if her dad was agreeable. THANK YOU FOR THAT, THAT'S GREAT AND I'VE SPOKEN TO HER ABOUT THIS AND TOLD HER TO WRITE IT DOWN.

teafortwoandtwofortea - YEAH LIFE IS SHIT AND I'M SORRY YOU ARE GOING THROUGH YOUR SHARE. THANKS FOR THE POST AND MORTGAGE ADVICE [SMILE]

TRIBIT - THANKS FOR THAT - By tribpot on Thu 24-May-07 20:52:47, I'VE TOLD HER TO WRITE YOUR POINTS DOWN TOO, THANKS

I understand you now. You are worried about her and as I said before you are a lovely friend.
I wonder if he fully understands the situatuion for his daughetr?

THANKS LJ

Oh, OK, your initial post was a bit bald, understand a bit more where you are coming from now (and I did post a couple of vaguely helpful thoughts). Agree it's a bugger when your dad takes up with a new woman who waltzes off with the money (my ex-stepmother, for instance).

80smum has the same idea as me, that he can't sell her main residence without her consent (what I said about having to sign when my mother sold her house, only she put it better). Worth investigating.

She really needs to see a solicitor. And talk to her dad about financial planning.