I’m preparing a Will for a client who owns their own home. The client wants to ensure that one of their neighbours is given the opportunity to purchase the property from the estate at market value, purely because they have been good neighbours for many years. The client understands that if the neighbours choose not to buy the property or cannot afford it, then it will be put on the open market.
Is anyone able to suggest the best way of incorporating this into the Will? I have a template clause for an Option to Purchase, but I’m not sure it is really appropriate here as the client isn’t stating a price at which the property should be offered to the neighbour, but simply directing the executors to offer the property to them for purchase at market value. Eg. what if the neighbours want to buy it, but offer a price lower than market value? Wouldn’t this cause difficulty for the executors given their duty to the residuary beneficiaries (who are charities in this case)?
If you want to avoid any/most risk of dispute, client could grant a proper option to purchase now, exercisable only if she remains in ownership at her death. That would set out all the terms of the purchase in full.
(it would also flush out if the neighbours would actually be the slightest bit interested!)
Hi both,
Thank you very much for your time in responding to my question. I have messaged Andrew Taylor directly with my email address, as the template you mention would be very useful!