joint tenancy in common

[brian males]

my mother lives ina house with joint tenancy in common with my brother who does not live their .their is no mortgage on the house she has made a will out leaving her half to remaining three sons can my brother who owns the other half force her to sell the house for his half of monies.my mother lives in house on her own and isaged eighty seven

[themas]

I think he can probably sell his half of the house - if he can find anyone to buy it, knowing your mother still lives there. But I don't think he can force a sale of the whole house against your mother's wishes, or do anything which would effectively evict her. However, if this is a real problem it might be best to put your mother's mind at rest by getting advice from a solicitor.

[picklepants]

No, I don't think so. My mum and stepdad were tenants in common on their cottage. In their wills - my mum leaves her half to me and my sister and my stepdad left his half to his son. My stepdad died a couple of weeks ago and mum started to fret that his son could force her to sell the cottage to get his half of the cottage. She went to her solicitor (who was also my stepdad's solicitor) who said that legally my stepdad's half of the cottage belongs to THEM now until my mum dies and only then will his son get his half of the money.And even then he will only get half of what it's valued at today - doesn't matter if the property increases in value in the future. I know this isn't exactly the same situation as your mum is in as your brother is still alive but I can't see how he can force a sale. We were concerned that my stepdad's son could have forced my mum to sell the cottage before my stepdad died (he had alzheimers and was in a nursing home) to pay for nursing home fees etc but mum was told by her solicitor that this couldn't happen without BOTH parties agreeing a sale. Hope this puts you mum's mind at rest. For free advice contact your local citizen's advice bureau - I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing - nothing to worry about.

[Ethel]

This should put your mind at rest:

If you are joint owners, you have equal rights to live in the property. This means that none of the joint owners can be forced to leave without a court order. If you want to sell the property or take out a loan against it (a second mortgage) all the joint owners have to agree.

From this site:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-47 1.cfm

[dzug]

Is it a joint tenancy or are they tenants in common? They are different things.

If they are joint tenants then she cannot leave her half in her will - it automatically passes to your brother who will own the whole house and can do what he wants with it.

If they are tenants in common then yes she can leave it in her will and the advice above applies.