What is the process of a "forced sale" and what are the costs involved?

G

Geraldine2

Registered User
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Hello all.

A relative and myself inherited an old house in Ireland in April 2004.

The relative was still at college and lived in and consumed the house until August 2007 when she bought a new house.

The relative has now presented me with a request that I either buy her share or put the house on the market and that if I don't agree "the sale can be forced".

The asking price is more than I'd be prepared to pay for the other fifty percent of the property.

Does anybody know anything about the process of a "forced sale" and what the costs involved would be?
 
Re: Court-forced sale?

it will be very difficult to force a sale, however you should get a number of valuations of the house and pick the average price and work on that basis. if you search for other threads on separation/divorce you will find similar issues arising there. you could also seek a 'discount' from the other party for the benefit they gained from living in the house for 3 years but at the end of the day you're probably going to have to come to some sort of agreement to either buy them out or sell the house.
 
Re: Court-forced sale?

The norm would be for you to have house valued and then offer to buy other party for 50% of that value or sell your 50% at that value. That way, there is no incentive for you to get a low valuation.

If you are not living in the house, ie you have housing somewhere else, then I would think that your relative could go to Court to have house sold.

how was house left to you, are you tenants in common or joint tenants.

The cheapest way out of the problem is to come to an agreement to buy/sell the 50%. The expense in Court and legal fees will either come off the sale price or could be awarded against one of the parties. If you were that unfortunate person, then you could lose a good chunk of your 50% in fees.
 
Re: Court-forced sale?

If your not living there, and you're not willing to buy them out, why not sell?
 
Re: Court-forced sale?

I remember posting here about a "double bind" system a few years ago. See Brothers shared house.


The way it works is that party "A" offers an amount €x for the others share if this is acceptable to " B" then the sale goes through at that price if not then "B" offers that amount €x to "A" and "A" is bound to accept it.
 
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Thank you all for your helpful comments.

I realise that the logical action will be to sell the property although I was put-out by my relative's email informing me that a sale can be forced anyway.

The house was left to us by my late father, her grandfather. I gave instructions to my solicitor (with her approval) to have it registered as tenants in common last April but don't know whether this has been done yet. I suppose I'd have to pay capital gains if it has? I emigrated from Ireland thirI sell my share there?

Steve D and Mathepac: What I mean by "consumed" is that four years ago the house was in a decent livabty years back but intend to retire there, hopefully to the area where I was born and don't know whether Kildare County Council would give me permission for a new build ifle condition, but it is no longer that way today. There are tens of black sacks of household rubbish piled up in the garage and coal shed (great attraction for mice). The house is filthy and full of rubbish, not to mention the damage. The garden seems like a jungle and there are weeds growing from the gutters and that's just a start!
 
The way I see it, either you have the means to buy out the other half or not. There not much else to be decided. You can't delay the decision till you retire.
 
Geraldine2, I'm confused by this reference to Capital Gains Tax, CGT. You state that the disponer, your late father, bequested you a (50% ?) share of the house in his will. As you enjoyed a "Group A" relationship with the disponer (you are a daughter), your are entitled to receive gifts / inheritances of between 468k (2006) to 521k (2008) free of Capital Acquisition Tax, CAT, depending on the exact year and the total of gifts / inheritances received previously.

The other beneficiary, as a "Group B" relation of the disponer (she is a grand-daughter) has a CAT threshold approximately 90% less than you, again depending on the year and the total of gifts / inheritances received previously.

In a situation where one of you buys the other's share of the property, there may be a Stamp Duty liability arising as it sounds like the house cannot be classified as the PPR of either of you.

I can't see how a CGT liability arises for you where you are buying the other's share, and I am unsure if it might arise if you were to sell your share as that depends on valuations at the time of taking the bequest and the timing of the sale.
Geraldine2 said:
... I gave instructions to my solicitor (with her approval) to have it registered as tenants in common last April but don't know whether this has been done yet.
Click to expand...
I don't claim to understand the necessity for this if at the time of receiving the bequest, the new ownership was properly registered with the Land Registry by the executors of your late father's estate.

As for planning permissions for new builds with Local Authorities, I am absolutely clueless.

This may be useful for taxation reference - http://www.revenue.ie/
 
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hi i have recently been left my grandparents home with my sister and we are currently selling... we both have to pay around 90,000 inheiritance tax each but there was a way around it if we had of been living there 3 years prior to my grandad dying,and 6 years after(a new home bought with the money from the sale of this house and lived in for the 6 years counts as ppr as well ......... unfortunetly my grandad didnt know this and we didnt have it as our home prior to inheiriting it.......... the tax implications actually forced us to sell,which i think was helpful to move things along in the end....
 
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