Angela Brown
Daniels LLP Solicitors I WAS led to believe that my mother had updated her will before she died, reducing the amount she left to my brother, the executor. However no new will has been produced. Would I get a reply from the solicitor who sent the original will to probate if I asked them if a new will had in fact been made? YOU could ask, but the answer most certainly would be that the will sent to probate is the latest version known to the solicitor. You may want to alert them in case they were not aware of a later will although it would be a serious breach of a solicitor’s duty to ignore a later version of a will, whether or not they are acting as executor. However, it’s not uncommon for people to say they are going to change their will and either not get round to doing it or never have any intention of doing so.
GROUND RENT DEMISE
LAST year I tried to pay my ground rent, but my cheque was returned. I have put the money aside but the rent is due again this month. Can any court action be taken against me in these circumstances? NO. These days you don’t owe any ground rent unless you’ve received a demand for it and at worst the landlord can only demand up to six years ground rent arrears if the ground rent has not been paid for a long period. This must consist of a formal notice giving you at least 30 days to pay. If you haven’t had one of these you’re in the clear. All over the country ground rents are not being collected because it’s no longer cost- effective to do so. However it’s important that you continue to observe the terms of your lease, which may for example bar you from making changes to your property without first obtaining the landowner’s permission. MY wife and her brother, who is disabled, inherited their parents’ house when they died. The property, worth £190,000, was put into joint names. Now the welfare benefits team are demanding the return of payments made to my wife’s brother since then, even though he has nothing in his bank account. AS you are probably aware, you are not entitled to claim most benefits if you have capital or assets worth more than £16,000. Your wife and her brother can either let the property to produce income with which to replace his benefits, or sell it to realise cash for him to live on. The benefits team will probably be prepared to wait for their money if your brother-in-law explains the situation to them.
HALF A KITCHEN
I BOUGHT a kitchen from a large DIY retailer. When it arrived the worktops were missing, but the firm said I’d get them in a matter of days so I ripped out my old kitchen and installed the new units. A week later the firm finally admitted the worktops were out of stock and they couldn’t give me a delivery date. As you can imagine, my house is in a terrible state. YOU’RE probably entitled to send the whole kitchen back, although if you’ve gone to the trouble of installing it I doubt you would want to do that. However your legal rights under the Sale of Goods Act should give you considerable leverage when negotiating with the manager of the store. Suggest that you want the new worktops free when they finally arrive. But be prepared to compromise if you want things sorted out quickly.
Call SAS Daniels LLP Solicitors on 0161 475 7676 or 01625 442 100. Visit www.sasdaniels. co.uk. Write to Weekly Law and You, MEN Media, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton OL9 8EF, or email legalline@btconnect. com.