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I have received a Pre Action Protocol and letter of claim.
If I agreed to the Letter of Claim it will put my sister out of her home!
The following, although lengthy hopefully explains everything so that you have the whole picture.
In April 2013 I purchased a property with my Niece with a view of demolishing the existing house and building two detached properties on the land. My niece extended her mortgage to assist with the purchase. The construction of the properties was to be financed by savings and sale of our existing homes. The major source of finance came from my Sister and Brother-in-law (S&BiL), my niece’s parents and they were all to live together in one of the houses once built. My niece is a nurse and it was intended that she would look after my S&BiL in their old age.
It was agreed that when the first house was built my niece, her family and my S&BiL would move into the house and ownership of the house would be shared between them along the following lines;
Plot 1 : Sister & brother-in-law and niece & husband
Plot 2 : Me
The idea being that when something happen to my S&BiL, I guess we are really talking about death here, the house would be wholly owned by my niece and her husband perhaps circumventing inheritance tax if any was due.
The problem now is that my niece, is demanding that I now split the properties to allow her ownership of the house exclusively in her and her husband’s name with the idea to sell and move on, disadvantaging my S&BiL, who will then be homeless.
As I said earlier, the financing of the construction of their home was mainly from my S&BiL, they sold their home and cashed in all their savings. My niece would argue that she also sold her home and contributed £100K into the project but an amount slightly greater than that was loaned to her when she purchased her first home in 2008 so the £100K isn’t really a contribution to the build but rather a repayment of the loan. Also as a side note, no interest was charged on the loan which ran for over eight years.
So what has caused the problem, well in February last year my niece accused her mother of saying that her husband wasn’t good enough for her but my sister swears blind that the statement was never made and she has never thought that, on the contrary she thinks the guy deserves a medal for marrying my niece. As I say, she swears blind that the statement was never made but to try and resolve the problem my sister apologised to both my niece and her husband but it’s not enough. My niece has always been a “me first” type of person, spoilt rotten as a child, extremely vindictive and controlling and truly horrible if she doesn’t get her own way. Since 2015 they have all lived together, with my S&BiL looking after the home, cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening and walking the dog with the only requirement being that my niece made Sunday lunch which her husband always had to do because my niece stays in bed all day on Sundays but in March/April last year my niece stopped her husband from making Sunday lunch for which my sister stopped making the other meals and doing their laundry. Consequently my niece became very vindictive, disconnecting the telephone when doctor telephone appointments were due, switching off the television service (sky Q) installing smart plugs so that equipment wouldn’t work, limiting what crockery and cutlery can be used, can’t use the freezer, only certain shelves in the fridge. My niece then started getting aggressive to the point where at the end of April last year my niece barged into my S&BiL bedroom after my sister had gone bed with the pretext of checking the central heating thermostat, she really frightened my sister and whereas I had been telling my niece to calm down with the hostilities, she refused to listen to me and I eventually reported her to the police for terrorizing my S&BiL. Since then I have suffered hostilities and been served with a Pre Action Protocol and letter of claim to separate the trust in favour of my niece.
I cannot afford legal representation to fight my niece, I have been unemployed since 2005 due to a mental health condition, my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2000 and I stopped work to look after her which I did until her passing in October 2005. Of course, I have suffered with depression ever since for which my GP advised that I stay busy. In this regard my niece found me lots of things to do. My mother died in early 2000 and shortly after my niece asked if she could move into my deceased mother’s bungalow, with the idea that she would one day purchase it, she never did. However she did have me remodel the bungalow, knock walls down build new walls, install a new central heating system, design and build an extensive loft conversion, remodel the garden install decking for outside dinning. My niece paid for all the materials but I provided all the labour FoC, I never asked for payment and never wanted it.
In 2008 my niece asked if my sister and I would be willing to sell the bungalow, we had owned it since my mother’s passing in 2000, and for the money from the sale to be used to purchase a new house for my niece and her husband. Both my sister and I were agreeable to this, one day the money would be repaid but I wasn’t in a hurry for it so it really didn’t matter. The new house required a new kitchen, rewiring of the electrics, plumbing work, Velux window replacements, floor replacement in the kitchen and conservatory. Installation of new bathroom and tiling, fitted wardrobes etc etc. All purchased by my niece and installed by me FoC.
With regard to the property that we purchased in 2013, I obtained planning permission on a site that everybody said was green belt but I was able to prove that it wasn’t. The planning dept said that the narrow country road would be too congested with new properties, I undertook a traffic survey that proved it wouldn’t be if I constructed a couple of passing places along the 400m of narrow road which I did. I then designed the houses, sure an architect drew the plans but I designed them and interfaced with the planning department and then building control and then I built the houses, including designs of the kitchen and bathrooms and walk-in wardrobes with all the materials being purchased, this time, by my sister(*), but again with all my labour, being FoC.
(*) My sister’s finances are now totally exhausted.
The houses, will be worth something in the region of £600 ~ £700K perhaps a little more and whereas I have loved my niece as a daughter since she was born and never begrudged doing anything for her, I am somewhat rattled now, I know I’ve been taken advantage of but I always thought we could trust each other, we were a close family.
Just to be clear of how much of an idiot I have been, nothing was ever written down, all agreements were verbal, as I say, we trusted each other.
Consequently I am extremely distressed and don’t know how to fight this, can anybody give some guidance!
Thank you
F.
If I agreed to the Letter of Claim it will put my sister out of her home!
The following, although lengthy hopefully explains everything so that you have the whole picture.
In April 2013 I purchased a property with my Niece with a view of demolishing the existing house and building two detached properties on the land. My niece extended her mortgage to assist with the purchase. The construction of the properties was to be financed by savings and sale of our existing homes. The major source of finance came from my Sister and Brother-in-law (S&BiL), my niece’s parents and they were all to live together in one of the houses once built. My niece is a nurse and it was intended that she would look after my S&BiL in their old age.
It was agreed that when the first house was built my niece, her family and my S&BiL would move into the house and ownership of the house would be shared between them along the following lines;
Plot 1 : Sister & brother-in-law and niece & husband
Plot 2 : Me
The idea being that when something happen to my S&BiL, I guess we are really talking about death here, the house would be wholly owned by my niece and her husband perhaps circumventing inheritance tax if any was due.
The problem now is that my niece, is demanding that I now split the properties to allow her ownership of the house exclusively in her and her husband’s name with the idea to sell and move on, disadvantaging my S&BiL, who will then be homeless.
As I said earlier, the financing of the construction of their home was mainly from my S&BiL, they sold their home and cashed in all their savings. My niece would argue that she also sold her home and contributed £100K into the project but an amount slightly greater than that was loaned to her when she purchased her first home in 2008 so the £100K isn’t really a contribution to the build but rather a repayment of the loan. Also as a side note, no interest was charged on the loan which ran for over eight years.
So what has caused the problem, well in February last year my niece accused her mother of saying that her husband wasn’t good enough for her but my sister swears blind that the statement was never made and she has never thought that, on the contrary she thinks the guy deserves a medal for marrying my niece. As I say, she swears blind that the statement was never made but to try and resolve the problem my sister apologised to both my niece and her husband but it’s not enough. My niece has always been a “me first” type of person, spoilt rotten as a child, extremely vindictive and controlling and truly horrible if she doesn’t get her own way. Since 2015 they have all lived together, with my S&BiL looking after the home, cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening and walking the dog with the only requirement being that my niece made Sunday lunch which her husband always had to do because my niece stays in bed all day on Sundays but in March/April last year my niece stopped her husband from making Sunday lunch for which my sister stopped making the other meals and doing their laundry. Consequently my niece became very vindictive, disconnecting the telephone when doctor telephone appointments were due, switching off the television service (sky Q) installing smart plugs so that equipment wouldn’t work, limiting what crockery and cutlery can be used, can’t use the freezer, only certain shelves in the fridge. My niece then started getting aggressive to the point where at the end of April last year my niece barged into my S&BiL bedroom after my sister had gone bed with the pretext of checking the central heating thermostat, she really frightened my sister and whereas I had been telling my niece to calm down with the hostilities, she refused to listen to me and I eventually reported her to the police for terrorizing my S&BiL. Since then I have suffered hostilities and been served with a Pre Action Protocol and letter of claim to separate the trust in favour of my niece.
I cannot afford legal representation to fight my niece, I have been unemployed since 2005 due to a mental health condition, my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2000 and I stopped work to look after her which I did until her passing in October 2005. Of course, I have suffered with depression ever since for which my GP advised that I stay busy. In this regard my niece found me lots of things to do. My mother died in early 2000 and shortly after my niece asked if she could move into my deceased mother’s bungalow, with the idea that she would one day purchase it, she never did. However she did have me remodel the bungalow, knock walls down build new walls, install a new central heating system, design and build an extensive loft conversion, remodel the garden install decking for outside dinning. My niece paid for all the materials but I provided all the labour FoC, I never asked for payment and never wanted it.
In 2008 my niece asked if my sister and I would be willing to sell the bungalow, we had owned it since my mother’s passing in 2000, and for the money from the sale to be used to purchase a new house for my niece and her husband. Both my sister and I were agreeable to this, one day the money would be repaid but I wasn’t in a hurry for it so it really didn’t matter. The new house required a new kitchen, rewiring of the electrics, plumbing work, Velux window replacements, floor replacement in the kitchen and conservatory. Installation of new bathroom and tiling, fitted wardrobes etc etc. All purchased by my niece and installed by me FoC.
With regard to the property that we purchased in 2013, I obtained planning permission on a site that everybody said was green belt but I was able to prove that it wasn’t. The planning dept said that the narrow country road would be too congested with new properties, I undertook a traffic survey that proved it wouldn’t be if I constructed a couple of passing places along the 400m of narrow road which I did. I then designed the houses, sure an architect drew the plans but I designed them and interfaced with the planning department and then building control and then I built the houses, including designs of the kitchen and bathrooms and walk-in wardrobes with all the materials being purchased, this time, by my sister(*), but again with all my labour, being FoC.
(*) My sister’s finances are now totally exhausted.
The houses, will be worth something in the region of £600 ~ £700K perhaps a little more and whereas I have loved my niece as a daughter since she was born and never begrudged doing anything for her, I am somewhat rattled now, I know I’ve been taken advantage of but I always thought we could trust each other, we were a close family.
Just to be clear of how much of an idiot I have been, nothing was ever written down, all agreements were verbal, as I say, we trusted each other.
Consequently I am extremely distressed and don’t know how to fight this, can anybody give some guidance!
Thank you
F.
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