Your legal questions answered by Fahmida Ismail, Partner at Sydney Mitchell LLP. As featured in Worcester News, 4th November 2014
Q. My sister is in her 80’s and lives by herself with no family of her own. I’m concerned that her will leaves everything to my mother, who has been dead 17 years. What is the position where a will leaves everything to someone who is no longer alive?
A. The gift will fail, and the estate will be distributed as if she hadn’t made a will, ie under the intestacy rules. If your sister has no husband or children and your parents are no longer alive, then brothers and sisters are next in line. Unless you are named as an executor in her current will you would have to apply for a grant of letters of administration when she dies. You could suggest she makes a new will.
Q. My son has a small one-bedroom flat in a house containing another two flats which are worth substantially more. My son has suggested that all maintenance work should be paid for on a proportional basis, but the others want the cost split equally three ways. What’s the legal situation?
A. The answers are to be found in the lease document your son signed when he bought the property. The structure and common parts of such a building are usually owned by a landlord, who is responsible for maintenance and repair. The landlord can be a person or a company (although it is possible for leaseholders to own the freehold through a residents’ management company). The lease will say what the landlord has to do and will detail the contributions required from the flat owners.
Q. Our freeholder wrote to us asking if any alterations had been carried out to our property. I replied that a minor extension had been added 13 years before we moved in. The freeholder wants us to pay for retrospective permission for this, but our solicitor says we are not liable for a one-off breach of covenant by a previous tenant. However they agree that we would have to disclose the dispute if we wanted to sell the property. How can we resolve this?
A. Your solicitors are correct that you are not responsible for a breach of the terms of your lease on the part of the previous leaseholders. It’s unlikely to prevent you selling the house, but you should keep copies of all correspondence in case you need to convince a future buyer’s conveyancer that there is no case to answer.
For further information on any of the issues raised, please contact Fahmida Ismail on 0121 698 2200 or fill in our online enquiry form.
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