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You are here: Home questions My mother paid for a "granny flat" to be built onto our house but we have now fallen out and want to sell our house. Would my mother be able to stop the sale and does she have any rights?
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My mother paid for a "granny flat" to be built onto our house but we have now fallen out and want to sell our house. Would my mother be able to stop the sale and does she have any rights?

Some years ago we gave my mother permission to build a "granny flat" onto our house so that she could be closer to us. We had built our house ourselves some years earlier but could not afford to pay for the building of the flat so my mother said she would pay for it. At the time I didn't take any legal advice regarding my mother's entitlement as I didn't foresee the need as family relationships were good. However, two years ago an incident occurred in the family and my mother is now no longer on speaking terms with us. This is putting a lot of stress on us and we want to move, but we don't know legally if my mother can stop us from selling our house. Can you advise me as to whether she would have any legal claim to stop us? Her name was never put on the Deeds and all the bills relating to the flat are paid by us as the owners. We would be prepared to reimburse her for the cost of building the flat.

As your mother is in actual occupation of the granny flat forming part of your property she would be called upon to co-operate and consent in respect of any future sale and certainly if she refused to do so then this would cause potential difficulties.
 
She may also of course claim that she has a financial interest in the property in that the provision of a granny flat would no doubt have enhanced the value of the property which, assuming it has increased in value over the years, she may consider that she is entitled to a proportion of what the property is now being sold for.  That proportion would no doubt reflect the difference in what the property would have been sold for had the granny flat not been built, by comparison with the structure in place.
It may well be the best course of action would be to try and negotiate with your mother, not only in respect of effecting a sale of the property but also what she would be entitled to.  
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by Maria Mason last modified 2008-05-09 13:44

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