Site Transfer but Land not owned

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desperado

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Upon the passing of my uncle in 2004, his farm of land was willed to me.
However the probate process was not completed due to possible tax cost.
Now I wish to sell a site off this land, is it possible for me to proceed or must the land be first "registered" in my name.
 
desperado said:
However the probate process was not completed due to possible tax cost.
Click to expand...
Possible tax on an 9 year old inheritance!
There are very generous reliefs for agricultural land. You need to get proper professional advice about Capital Acquisitions Tax. It may cost you more to receive cash than land.
 
Other reasons other than tax liability, yes ag relief will make liability minimal.
Back to my central query, can I legally sell a site if the will probate process is incomplete and I am not the listed owner ??
 
I'm sure a legal person will be along soon but how can you sell an asset you don't own?

The executor could sell it perhaps?
 
If the grant was not extracted and the land is still in the name of your uncle then you cannot sell and neither can the Executor/rix.

You'd lose your Agri relief on selling, of course since your 6 year period presumably didn't start to run.
 
Interesting, in a case like this will the tax office accept the valuation date of the date of grant where the beneficiary has not bothered for 9 years to deal with it?
 
Valuation date is usually either date of death or date of grant as you know, but if the beneficiary went into possession, then the valuation date could be said to be the date they did so, thus penalties and interest would accrue on the tax due. Of course if Agri relief meant no tax due, then no interest either.


I'd say 9 years is pushing it ( quite considerably! ) and I wouldn't like to be the one arguing that case but of course each case is dealt with on its own merits.
 
Actually my uncle had a life interest only in the land and upon his passing, the land paased to me via my father. I have been farming his since 2004 and expect the ag relief to take care of tax liability.
Essentially the land is mine in all but name as the grant has not been executed.
Therefore is there any legal process to transact a site sale (strip of land only 1/20 acre)?
Possibly a letter from solicitor stating my entitlement pending grant of probate and sale on this basis with actual transfer to take place then??
 
desperado said:
Possibly a letter from solicitor stating my entitlement pending grant of probate and sale on this basis with actual transfer to take place then??
Click to expand...

So your father died leaving a life interest to your uncle and to you on his death.

If your father's estate had been probated and dealt with in the land registry, then it would be as simple as you making one small application to the land registry to now become the registered owner. You would not need to extract a grant to your uncle's estate. You would still need to deal with the CAT implications.

However I suspect that that was not done, and you now need to do that.

And no, unless you can pass on proper title to a purchaser, you cannot sell it, unless the purchaser is mad.
 
1/20 of an acre is a very small piece of land.

If the purchase price was very low, the purchaser might be willing to explore the possibility of a less than perfect title for the time being. Is the Purchaser a relative ? Can you tell us the value of the transaction ? Does the Purchaser intend to build on it ?
 
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