Hi

Thanks for your reply.

You need to get hold of the document that you signed. If the solicitor prepared the document then it will be a Declaration of Trust stating that although you are the legal owner your brother is the beneficial owner of the equity in the property. Hopefully it will also say that you do not have a right of access.

If the solicitor has closed down then they should have transferred the files to another local solicitor, so someone will have it. I would contact the Law Society initially and explain that you need to track down a document previously held by the solicitor and require them to check who they were transferred to:-

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/home.law

They may refer you to the Solicitors.

Once you have established who the solicitors are you will be able to contact them to get a copy after you have proved your identity to them. You should examine the document to ensure that it puts in to effect what you think it does.

You should then re-contact the local authority giving them a copy of the document to show that you do not derive any appreciable or tangible benefit from the property and that your benefits should not be effected. Hopefully, this will be sufficient.

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Kind regards,


Tom