PROPERTY LAW
NOT WORTH THE RISK
I AM selling my house and have already had an offer. Do I have to employ a solicitor? The prospective buyer is going to. It’s less complicated (and therefore cheaper) to sell a house than to buy one, especially if the property is already registered at the Land Registry. Also, if at least one of the parties to the house sale is employing a solicitor the transaction is unlikely to be a total shambles! However I wouldn’t recommend DIY conveyancing to anyone unless they have a particular bent for legal terminology. Legal fees for conveyancing are generally regarded as very reasonable: the main expenditure in selling a house is likely to be the estate agent’s fee. I should add that if you have a mortgage, the lender will probably insist that you employ a solicitor.
HALF SHARES?
MY friend’s mother died in childbirth and he was legally adopted by his aunt and uncle. They later had a child, who is therefore both his first cousin and adoptive brother. In the meantime his father married again and also had a son. My friend is a bachelor with no interest in making a will. When he dies will his estate go to his adoptive brother or to his half-brother, whom he has never met? On the basis that he dies without leaving a spouse/ civil partner or children then, under the intestacy provisions, his estate would pass to his adoptive parents but if they have died then to his adoptive brother. Formal adoption severs the blood tie as far as the law is concerned so by the same token, your friend would not inherit from his father or half-brother unless named in their wills. I would strongly recommend he makes a will so that he decides who should inherit his estate.
LONG DIVISION
THIRTY years ago my brother and I were in business together and bought two pieces of land. I built a bungalow on the smaller plot and the plan was for my brother to build on part of the other plot, with us sharing the remainder. I have now suggested we divide up the land as originally intended, but my brother refuses. What’s my position? It depends how the land was bought in the first place and how you traded with your brother, whether it was in partnership or as a limited company. If these were business assets and you can prove exactly what the nature of the agreement was, then it may affect the ownership of your plot of land. If it was bought in your joint names you would be able to apply to the court for a declaration as to who owned what proportion of the larger plot. See a solicitor and provide him with all of the facts and the evidence, including the purchase prices, the cost of building your property, and a detailed plan showing which parts you expected your brother to develop from the larger plot.
HARDY PERENNIAL
I AM a pensioner who gets someone in to mow my lawn and generally tidy up my garden. Is it true that if someone does this on a regular basis they can claim the land after a number of years? No. If that were the case there’d be an awful lot of wealthy gardeners around! It is possible for people to acquire rights over private land over a long period of time, but it has become much more difficult these days, especially where the property is registered at the Land Registry. The fact that your handyman is in your garden at your invitation and carrying out your instructions doesn’t give him any rights over your property at all.
»»Call Bromleys Solicitors LLP on 0161 330 6821 or visit www.bromleys.co.uk If you have any legal questions, write to Property Law, MEN Media, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton OL9 8EF, or email mail@ lawQs.co.uk