Delapidated house with no probate
Posted: July 30th, 2020, 1:10 pm
Hi All,
I wonder if anyone can offer advice.
A friend of mine owns a semidetached property in the south of England and 4-5 years ago her elderly neighbour died leaving the house empty. The elderly woman had a son who apparently grew up in the house but now only visits when pushed to sort out problems (he did at least board up the hole in the back door to stop the rats getting in). The house has fallen into serious disrepair. The wooden windows are all rotting. There are vines are growing over the windows. The garden is a jungle! and recently there has been an infestation of rats. Not the sort of property anyone would want to live next to.
The son has said that he might come back one day to live in the house. Apparently he revealed to my friend that he has not applied for probate. When other neighbours have complained to the council to intervene given the unsightliness of the property. The response has been that they cannot take action against the son as technically the property belongs to the estate of the deceased woman and as there has been no application for probate they cannot do anything. My friend is also concerned as there are a number of trees are gaining in height which are located very close to the rear of the property.
So the question is - Is there anything that can be done to force the beneficiaries of the estate to take appropriate action to clean up the property?
If so where does one start?
AA.
I wonder if anyone can offer advice.
A friend of mine owns a semidetached property in the south of England and 4-5 years ago her elderly neighbour died leaving the house empty. The elderly woman had a son who apparently grew up in the house but now only visits when pushed to sort out problems (he did at least board up the hole in the back door to stop the rats getting in). The house has fallen into serious disrepair. The wooden windows are all rotting. There are vines are growing over the windows. The garden is a jungle! and recently there has been an infestation of rats. Not the sort of property anyone would want to live next to.
The son has said that he might come back one day to live in the house. Apparently he revealed to my friend that he has not applied for probate. When other neighbours have complained to the council to intervene given the unsightliness of the property. The response has been that they cannot take action against the son as technically the property belongs to the estate of the deceased woman and as there has been no application for probate they cannot do anything. My friend is also concerned as there are a number of trees are gaining in height which are located very close to the rear of the property.
So the question is - Is there anything that can be done to force the beneficiaries of the estate to take appropriate action to clean up the property?
If so where does one start?
AA.