Responsibilities of a life tenant

Trusts Discussion
1

My client is the life tenant of his late mother’s Will Trust. He has a life tenancy in his late mother’s house. The trustees were two of his brothers. One of them has always been very difficult and demanding, and the other died recently. The mother left a Codicil specifying that if either or both trustees were unable to act “after her lifetime” then her other three children should be trustees in the order set out in the Codicil.

The surviving brother/trustee has completely ignored this and has instructed solicitors to appoint his daughter as second trustee. His solicitors have interpreted the wording of the Codicil to mean that the other three children would be trustees only if either or both initial trustees predeceased their mother.

My client has now received a letter from the trustees, ordering him to, inter alia, fit carbon monoxide detectors in every room containing a gas appliance, and to obtain a “full property assessment and EPC. Following a regulation change with regards to MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards) one must be in place for your tenancy. This has been outstanding since 1st April 2020.”

This seems to me to be completely over the top, and designed simply to hassle my client. He always provides the trustees with annual insurance updates, and copies of gas certificates etc. I would be very grateful for any thoughts or advice on the situation.

Su England
Parry Law

2

As no-one has replied yet, I would venture a thought or two.
First of all, I do not consider it helpful to describe the surviving trustee as “very difficult and demanding”. Whilst that may be your client’s subjective view of his sibling, perhaps you should seek clear and specific evidence in support of this allegation before giving objective advice to him? Do bear in mind that the mother must have had some reason for the arrangements she made.
More relevantly, you should start with the precise terms of his late mother’s will and codicil. Your post seems to suggest confusion between a life tenant under a trust arrangement, and one under a landlord and tenant arrangement.
I personally cannot envisage a way for any testator to appoint substitute trustees after the testator’s death. Perhaps I am missing something.
Clearly the detail in this case is not suitable for discussion in this forum, and you should seek specialist advice based on the specific facts of this case.