PROPERTY LAW

WILL TO RESOLVE FAMILY ROW

MY parents have made a will appointing me and my brother executors. My brother and I fell out 13 years ago, and he hasn’t spoken to my parents for eight years. Surely the solicitor who drew up the will shouldn’t have allowed this? IT’S possible your parents are hoping to reunite the family after their death even if they were unable to do so while alive. Either way their solicitor was only able to offer advice on the appointment of executors; he obviously can’t force them to adopt his suggestions. If he were to be appointed as a third executor then any transactions could be carried out through him.

SELLING DAD’S BUSINESS

WE have found a buyer for my late father’s business, but his solicitor, who is an executor of the will, wants it to go to auction. Apart from anything else this would entail an auction fee which we’d prefer to avoid if possible. What can we do? IF the solicitor is sole executor of your father’s will you will have to accept his judgement; he could be held personally liable if he failed to sell the business at the market rate. If you are also an executor you may have to go to court if you can’t reach an agreement. But unless you alone stand to benefit from the sale of the business you will be under the same obligation as the solicitor to act in the best interests of all those who stand to inherit.

GARDEN HAZARDS

I ARRANGE visits to gardens and houses for members of our local gardening club. The owners of some properties charge for these visits, others don’t. It has recently been suggested that we could be held liable for accidental damage to the properties or for injury to any member of the club who for instance tripped over a raised flagstone. Should we take out insurance? MEMBERS’ clubs such as yours have no separate legal status and it would probably be very difficult to sue you. If a member was injured while visiting a property he or she would probably bring a claim against the owner, rather than the club; and if someone caused damage they would probably be held individually responsible. The owners of the houses are potentially more at risk than yourselves, especially if they charge an entrance fee.

VANDALS NEXT DOOR

THE house next door has been empty since the elderly owner moved into sheltered housing, and it has been deteriorating rapidly. The council put up scaffolding at the back of the property after it was declared a danger to the public, but this just provides a stepladder to my upstairs windows, affecting my property insurance. The house is up for sale, but can I insist that the council makes it secure in the meantime to keep the vandals out? IT would appear that the house is still owned by your former neighbour, which means that they have the primary responsibility to keep the property in a habitable state. If the owner is too elderly to make the house secure he or she may have relatives you could approach. Alternatively you should contact the Empty Property Officer at your local council, which may be able to serve notice requiring the owner to undertake certain works within a specified time-scale and if they fail to do so, the council can undertake those works. In certain cases the council can take over management of the property. You may also want to discuss with a solicitor taking action against the owner for private nuisance, although this is unlikely to be practicable where the owner is elderly.

»»Call SAS Daniels LLP Solicitors on 0161 475 7676 or 01625 442 100. Visit www.sasdaniels.co.uk If you have any legal questions, write to Weekly Law and You, MEN Media, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton OL9 8EF, or email mail@lawQs.co.uk