Last month Movewise was delighted to participate in Excellence in Legacy Administration '21, a digital conference for charities seeking to improve the way they handle legacies gifted to them.
Our founder and CEO, Tom Scarborough, took part in a panel discussion entitled Sell, wait, or develop: How to maximise the benefit of property gifts. The discussion was led by Rebecca Massey, senior legacy management lead at Cancer Research UK, and James Stebbings, head of legacy income at Macmillan Cancer Support and chair of the Institute of Legacy Management, of which Movewise is a corporate member.
Tom was joined for the Q&A session by Andrew Wilkinson, partner at Shakespeare Martineau LLP.
The discussion explored how to obtain the maximum value from properties bequeathed to charities, which can often be difficult to sell because they are dilapidated, unmodernised, or otherwise difficult to sell, for example retirement properties. A quick sale may be tempting, but runs the risk of not obtaining full value for the property. Among the topics discussed were:
- Working with third parties, including lay executors, solicitors, and estate agents
- Choices available – when to sell and when to wait
- How much time and resource should a charity's team allocate to a property gift?
- Examples – land gifts, shared property bequests, renovation
- How to get the best outcome for a given charity and income situation
Movewise provides a complete solution for probate property, including these "problem properties". Our services include valuation, inventory, clearance, and arranging finance for renovations, as well as an end-to-end managed sales service. Find out more on our probate homepage.