House left to me 4y ago with an exclusive right of residence to a non family member?

Might be worth having someone look at the inheritance tax you paid too.

I presume the open market value of house that comes with a lifetime tenant that pays no rent would be close to nothing.
 
This is the exact wording in the will.

I give devise and bequeath my dwelling house together with all furniture,chattels and contents therein to my nephew X (me) absolutely subject to an exclusive right of residence therein of Y (other person) for her lifetime without impeachment for waste.

At the time the solicitor dealing with the probate of the will told me that the above meant I basically had no rights, effectively Y owned the house until she died. This was not my solicitor but the solicitor who drew up the will with my aunt. Y had lived with my aunt for over 30 years mostly abroad and she would have been present when the will was made so I'd assume this was worded effectively.

As I said before I have not seen or heard anything from Y for over a year now. I must stress I am not trying to remove Y just wondering if what I was told by the solicitor is correct in regards having no rights.
 
For the purposes of the NPPR, an owner is defined as:

.

So the question here is, if the house was let out now, while the life tenant is alive, who would get the rent, the person with the right of residency or the OP.
 
I think the wording in the will makes your aunt's intentions very clear. Your rights, while Y is still living, are close to zero.

Google on "without impeachment for waste" and you will find that so long as Y refrains from positive destruction of the property, you have no right to interfere. She can neglect it, and you can do nothing about it. The fact that somebody cuts the grass (presumably at her behest) indicates two things:
1. She is not following a course of wanton destruction.
2. She is still alive.

As Y is elderly, it would be in your interest to have a way of knowing if she dies. In your position, I would try to make contact with the person who maintains the garden to see if you can open a channel -- not necessarily to communicate with her, but simply to have some possibility of knowing if she dies.
 
It would be imperative for you to remain in contact with this person even if she isn't living in the house.

If someone is cutting the grass there I would want to be sure that it isn't someone just chancing they're arm in an attempt to gain some sort of adverse possession.
 
Excellent advice on this thread, especially from ONQ.
Has the OP followed it (or read this thread)?
 
OP you need to consult your solicitor.

Have you read the replies to this and your similar post in 2009?
 
seract - cut to the chase and go to FLAC. You have raised a number of issues and it would take time to go through them.
 
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