Can you dictate to an Estate Agent who buys your house?

[Mrsdavidcaruso]

I have a friend who wants to sell his Mums house, his Mum died last week leaving no debts, he is comfortably off with his own large house so
will not need to sell for a profit.

The current value looking at zoopla for a two bed Victorian house with an extension and a 100ft garden in his area is around the 150k mark and in his area these little houses tend to sell within weeks at that price.

However he wants to sell it at the 100k mark to enable a young couple to buy it who may not be able to afford a family home or as an alternative to a ticky tacky box with no garden he is worried that if he goes to an ES they will try and talk him out of it and he is no good at confrontations and also he does not want it to be sold to a BLT landlord who will make a profit or an non Islander who may want it as a holiday home.

I think his best bet is to find through contacts a someone who wanted it let them have a private viewing and then put it on with an estate agent and the person can then view it again through the ES and make an offer which he will accept as this is what we did when we bought our house from a family friend at 90k below market value.

If he cant find a couple (or a single person) like that can he put it with an estate agent with these provisos and would he be allowed to get information about potential buyers before accepting an offer.

He knows that even if he sold to people who fit his criteria they have the right to sell it on for a profit and to who they like, but he is happy with that, as at least it would give someone a chance of climbing up the ladder by having a larger deposit for a larger family home should they need to.

Does anyone have any advise

If at all possible I think he'd be much better advised to rent it out to people in need and that way he could possibly help successive families over time.

It's a very philanthropic idea, but unfortunately open to abuse.

Oh unless he could sell to a housing charity or housing association at a discounted rate? I don't know what provision there is where you are Mrs DC.

He could put a local covenant on it it's very common where we live

That's what he needs to do

He's lucky he does not need the money or have relatives who might need some financial help. Why help people you don't even know? Does he have no friends who could do with some money, or even friends of his Mother? Seems too vague to me and he could do a lot more in his Mother's memory.

"Agree way too many pitfalls - stamp duty would also be payable on the actual value rather than the sold price." of course it wouldn't - stamp duty is payable on the price at completion. otherwise you wouldn't get so many houses round here priced above the 5% stamp duty threshold selling at just under - no-one in their right mind would offer 25K under an asking price only to pay that out in stamp duty.

The instances where stamp duty avoidance happens is where e.g. someone sells a house for £145K with 5K cash on the side... but that's not what the op's friend is doing here.

People do have a right to sell a house for whatever they want, and offering way under asking price is the norm (although probably not that far under), but when a price is above a stamp duty threshold i.e. £150k £250K and £500K it is common practice to offer and accept below that and the difference in stamp duty is not applicable.

I think it sounds like an odd thing to do too and that there are better ways of giving something back from the estate.

I'm wondering how old the friend is? In addition to the IHT risk is there a danger this could be seen as intentional deprivation of assets if he needed nursing home care himself in the future.

Some areas, like the lake district, you see lots of houses for sale with covenants restricting their sale to local residents. I think a covenant and a private sale is the right way to go. Or he could rent it out at a low rent.

Wannabe - I stand corrected on the stamp duty issue! However wouldn't hmrc view it as him gifting away £50k so the recipients might have CGT to pay?

As others have said, private sale. Please tell your friend that someone did this for my parents when we were very young. He was a communist and sold it to my parents at the price he bought it for as he didn't want to make money from property. It changed our lives. We moved out if a council estate. Into an area with better schools. The knock on effect was enormous. Good luck!

Galliano he is 45 and will have his own house to sell if he needs care

We think we may have found someone who is looking for a house 60k over the price this could be sold for with the help to buy scheme they have a deposit which may enable them to get a mortgage for a 100k property without HTB. Young couple with 1 child and like a lot of people having to pay rent AND save up for a deposit. They are looking at a 3 bed in a newbuild estate but this house has more room down stairs as it has an extension and the 100ft Garden instead of a tiny one

They will need to come and view and do their sums but seem interested
and it will be a private sale no ES involved.

Of course it may not suit as it is decorated in 'old lady style' so they may prefer a new one they can just move into