Belt Auction

can you sell what does not belong to you?

In 1972,the local lord(sefton) of the manor died and bequested his estate to the people of liverpool.(council).The cottages in the park were for the workers of the park to live in...one cottage in particular,has fallen into dis-repair, through neglect...they have now put a sign "auction" on the cottage..my question is...can the council sell something that in effect does not belong to them..surely they are gaurdians?

Public Comments

1. no.. its illegal http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wSO9jTPFbW0&feature=channel_page
2. Depends on the exact wording of the original bequest. In reality it will come down to 'if you don't like it challenge it through the courts provided you have £100,000 to blow, no? thought not' Gotta love democracy.
3. they could argue that the money made from it is going to be used for the good of the people of Liverpool
4. You can, but you'd be breaking the law.
5. no you can't cause it's stilling.
6. well if its given to the people and the people dont want it then i guess they can sell it. when my grandfather died he left a lot of garbage. seriously he had a garage full and the cheap guy left it to us. we didnt want it obviously so we threw it out. it belonged to use from him so we got rid of it.
7. Sefton bequested his estate to Council. Council holds legal title to the estate. The workers hold equitable title as beneficiaries of the trust. The legal title owner can convey good title by sale. They must keep the sale's net proceeds in trust for the beneficiary workers. To prevent or restrain a sale of the particular asset, the workers may argue in a legal forum that the trust had a duty to maintain the trust corpus in its present form, i.e. cottages, and to prevent waste. If the trustees, the Council does not prevail in their argument, then they will be ordered to repair the cottage. The terms of the testamentary bequest from Sefton to the Council will be controlling.
8. I always thought that the meaning of 'bequest' is the act of giving, leaving by will, or passing on to another. This means that whoever inherits something (money or property) are the beneficiary and hold a legal title and can do what they please with it.I could be totally wrong. I would assume that if Lord Sefton bequeathed his property to the Liverpool City Council,then they are the Beneficiaries. It's a shame he didn't leave his estate directly to the workers of the park...