Inherited house - buying out others - Problems?

[BD_2010]

Hi,

I have just regiested here as I cannot really ifnd any info on what we can do in our situation and this looks like a site that may be able to help!

My wifes father and mother have both passed away in the last 18 months, and the house (owned by them - no outstanding mortgage) has been left to my wife and her younger sister and brother.

Myself, my wife and our daughter are currently living in this house and have been for the past 17 months. Our solicitors have now completed the probate and everything is now pretty much complete, and now we are in a position to buy out the sister and brothers share of the house. We have made it clear from the start that we wish to do this. The sister has stated that she does not want to ever live in the house and the brother has no objections either.

Now, the sister we believe is going to be a little 'difficult' in that she has recently told my wife, that she will not sell her share of the house unless we pay her an extra £20k on top of the value of her share (house value approx £300k). If we don't pay this extra on top, she will not sell.

What we would like to know is, is she able to do this as it is stopping us from owning the house we are currently living in and want to stay in. Is there any way we can force her (through court?) into selling her share of the house, seeing as she has no interest in the house other than how much money she can get out of us for it?

Also, if we are not able to make her sell her share, are we able to make her buy my wifes share so we can use this towards buying another house as it seems a little unfair that her being stubborn is the one thing stopping us buying this, or any other property?

I did find some info about this, but I think it was from an American site!?

Can anyone tell me what we are able to do in this situation? We would like to be able to go to the sister and say "These are your options, this is what we are offering, if you are going to make things difficult, these are the steps we are prepared to take.... etc..."

Many thanks.

[JustinN]

Who are the executors (who will be under a duty to sell)? If independent of the sister, they will want to sell the house at the best price reasonably attainable, which probably means selling to you. They will of course need to be satisfied by valuation evidence that you are paying at least a fair market price

If the sister is executor and is refusing to sell to you at a fair price, ultimately she can be forced to sell the property at auction, at which you (as anyone else) can bid. However, that would mean paying an unnecessary auctioneer's commission

If you have rights to occupy the property, or a legally-enforceable expectation that the house would be sold to you at a fair price (eg: you agreed to care for your in-laws on this basis) that would strengthen your hand

You really need to seek advice from a probate, rather than a conveyancing, solicitor

I hope this helps