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Whether you have inherited a property and became a landlord by accident or you have inherited land. There are so many decisions that you need to make. 

You may already have a clear and defined idea of what you want to do with your newly inherited property or land, you might already have reached out to strategic land promoters, or you might not know where to begin. 

There can also be additional pressures if there are emotional ties or family members offering their opinions to understand actually what options are available. 

Here is some help:

Understand What Debts Are Owed

When you inherit a property or land you also inherit any outstanding debts attached to them. So before you start making decisions it is important to gain a clear and thorough understanding of any balances remaining. 

Once you know the balance (if any), you can start understanding how this will be paid. Just because the property has a mortgage in place currently, doesn’t automatically mean that the mortgage can be switched into your name. There are many financial regulations that companies need to meet. This may mean that upon death the balance on the existing mortgage needs repaying. 

This may then limit your options. You could potentially take out a mortgage in your name to allow the existing one to be repaid, use savings or even sell the land or property to repay the debt. 

Inherited Land

If you have inherited land there are various options available to you. 

• You may decide to keep it and preserve it. This tends to be quite common where families have owned the same plot of land for generations and they pass it on. 
• You could build on it. The luxury of owning land is that you have the option to build on it. Depending on the size of the plot you may section it off and sell these to developers or build numerous properties yourself that you could rent out.
• Sell it. You don’t necessarily need to change the land at all. You have the option to sell it. With any asset that you own, you will want to make sure that you understand the taxes associated with this. 

Inherited A Property

With a property that has been inherited, again there are various options available to you. But before you start making decisions, find out if the property was previously their main residence or if it is let out. If the property has tenants it can influence what you can do based on their contract. 

If it was residential however your options are:

• Move-in. You could choose to make this your new residence. 
• Let it out. If it isn’t a property that you wish to live in, you may decide to rent it out and generate a source of income from the property. 
• Sell. You may not want to keep the property and may wish to sell. You can approach estate agents to help you sell. You may even decide to renovate and then sell.