Your parents spent forty summers at the cottage. Now it belongs to you, your sister and your brother, and the three of you can’t agree on anything to do with it. Your sister wants it kept as it is. Your brother wants his third in cash, preferably by Christmas. You’d just like Sunday lunch to stop ending in an argument.
This happens far more often than families admit. So if one sibling says no to a sale, does that settle it? In England and Wales the short answer is no. They can delay a sale and make it expensive, but they usually can’t block it for good.
Who actually owns the cottage right now?
Start here, because the answer decides who gets a say. While the estate is still being administered, the executors hold the property. They have the power to sell it, or to transfer it to the beneficiaries, as the will allows. Arguing with your siblings at this stage is really an argument about what the executors should do.
Once it has been transferred, the siblings are usually registered at HM Land Registry as the legal owners, holding it on trust for themselves. No more than four people can be named as legal owners, so a big family may find only some siblings on the title, holding it on trust for all of them.
Next, check how you own it. Joint tenants own the whole property together, and if one of you dies their interest passes to the others. Tenants in common each own a share, which can be equal or not, and that share passes under each owner’s own will. HM Land Registry doesn’t record the beneficial shares on the register. What it can show is a Form A restriction, which signals a tenancy in common. Your conveyancer or the will should tell you the rest.
Can my sibling force the sale of an inherited house?
In England and Wales, yes, they can apply. Under section 14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, known as TOLATA, anyone with an interest in co-owned land can ask the court for an order. That includes an order that the property be sold. TOLATA replaced the old route under section 30 of the Law of Property Act 1925, which is why older relatives sometimes still mention the 1925 Act.
The judge doesn’t just side with whoever shouts loudest. Section 15 sets out what the court must consider: what the person who created the trust intended, what the property is held for, the welfare of any children living there, the interests of any mortgage lender, and the wishes of the owners in proportion to their shares.
Here’s the catch for the sibling who wants to keep it. If your parents left the cottage to all of you without saying it must stay in the family, there is usually no ongoing purpose that keeps it unsold. The judge’s job is to decide how to divide the asset, not to work out who loved Dad more. Holding on to a holiday home for sentimental reasons rarely beats a co-owner who wants their money.
A sibling can usually delay a sale. They can rarely stop one for good, and the longer the fight goes on, the more of the cottage goes to the lawyers.
Court should be the last resort, and judges expect you to have tried negotiating or mediation first. Legal costs come out of the same pot you’re arguing over, so a three-way split of a smaller sum is a common result.
How do you buy out a sibling’s share of a property?
This is usually the sensible middle ground, and plenty of families end up here. The sibling who wants to keep the cottage buys out the one who wants to leave, at a proper market valuation. Use an independent RICS surveyor, ideally one you both agreed on, so nobody can later claim it was a stitch-up.
Here’s a worked example. The cottage was valued at £450,000 for probate and left equally to three siblings. Three years later a surveyor values it at £480,000. The departing brother’s third is therefore worth £160,000 before costs. Your sister and you pay him £80,000 each, and the title is transferred to the two of you through HM Land Registry.
Things to agree in writing first: who pays the valuation and legal fees, whether running costs already paid by one of you (roof, insurance, council tax) are credited before the split, and what happens if one of the remaining owners wants out later. A short co-ownership agreement now is much cheaper than a court case in ten years.
Raising £80,000 can be the hard part. Lenders treat a share of a second home differently from your main home, so speak to a mortgage broker before you promise anything.
What tax is due when you sell or buy out a share?
For the sibling selling out, it’s Capital Gains Tax. You inherited your share at its probate value, so only growth since the death is taxed. In the example, the brother’s gain is £10,000 (£160,000 less his £150,000 share of the probate value), less fees. From the 2024/25 tax year the annual exempt amount is £3,000, and gains on residential property are taxed at 18% within the basic-rate band and 24% above it. If he’s a higher-rate taxpayer, that’s 24% of £7,000, or £1,680. The gain must be reported and the tax paid to HMRC within 60 days of completion.
For the siblings buying, stamp duty may apply. GOV.UK guidance says you can pay Stamp Duty Land Tax when you take on a share of jointly owned property and give something of value in return. If you already own your own home, the higher rates for additional dwellings could come into play. There are exceptions involving inherited shares, and the rules are fiddly enough that a conveyancer should check before you exchange.
The rules aren’t the same everywhere. Wales has Land Transaction Tax instead of SDLT, and Scotland has Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. Scotland also has separate property law. A co-owner there raises an action of division and sale in the sheriff court, and the court generally has to grant it, either dividing the property or, much more often, ordering it sold. Northern Ireland has its own procedure too, so get local legal advice if the property is outside England.
Options before anyone calls a solicitor
Sell and split, which is clean and final. One or more siblings buy the others out at market value. Let the property out and share the income, though running a holiday let is a business with tax returns and lots of WhatsApp messages. Or agree to keep it for a fixed period, say five years, with a written exit clause.
Whatever you choose, don’t let it drift. Empty cottages cost money and annoy the insurer, and disagreements tend to set into grudges. If big sums are involved, an FCA-regulated financial adviser can help with the tax and funding side, and a solicitor experienced in TOLATA claims can tell you how strong your position really is.
In short
In England and Wales, a sibling who co-owns an inherited property can’t usually block a sale for ever. Any co-owner can ask the court for an order for sale under section 14 of TOLATA 1996, and judges rarely keep a property unsold just for sentimental reasons. The cheaper option is usually a buyout at an independent market valuation, but check the Capital Gains Tax and stamp duty first. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the tax rules or the court procedure are different.
Sources
Midcent Money
Andrew Ingram writes about money for men 45 and over – the years when retirement starts to feel real and the decisions get bigger. Pensions and retirement planning, investing, savings, mortgages and tax: what changed, what it means for your plans and what's worth doing about it. No hype, nothing to sell, and a clear steer on when it pays to get personal advice.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to andrew@midcent.uk.
