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Share of money after sale of house

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Mufti Mohamed Umer Ibrahim

We live in the UK. My husband and his brother ‘A’ bought a house together about 15 years ago in both their names. My husband paid the deposit. During that time, ‘A’ went abroad for a couple of years. His brothers ‘N’ and ‘T’ who were both single moved in with us. N was earning and T was at school. So my husband asked N to help with the mortgage, since it was a strain on us. A came back from abroad and both A and N got married. We (my husband and I) moved out about two years later (1991), so we stopped paying the mortgage. So A and N were living there with their families and their mother, and they paid the mortgage together. N moved out about a year later, about 8-9 years ago. For some reason he continued to help pay the mortgage for about a year after moving out, unknown to my husband.

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Wa alaikum as salam

According to the information given in the query, all three brothers; A, N and your husband entered into a contract known as ‘Shirkatul Milk’ (joint partnership in ownership) and all three are considered owners in the house in proportion to the amount they put in to pay off the house. Now after selling the house all three brothers will be rightly entitled to a share in the sale of the house in proportion to their ownership in the house. For example if your husband contributed to 50%, A 25% and N 25%, then your husband will receive 50% of the money earned from selling the house and A and N both will be entitled to 25% each.

Therefore N has the right to demand the actual share in the sale of the house in proportion to his ownership in the house.

The deposit or any other costs related to the purchase of the house that was not included in the actual cost of the house must also be borne by all partners (brothers). Therefore if any brother paid it fully from his pocket, he may demand it from the others in proportion to their ownership in the house.

Any home improvement or building costs must first be consented to by all partners. Any work done with the consent of all the partners must be borne equally in proportion to their ownership. Therefore if any brother paid for it from his pocket, he may demand it from the rest in proportion to their ownership in the house.

As far as the extra expenditure on behalf of N for the family is concerned, that would depend on his intention at the time of each expenditure. If his intention was to help as a favor without getting it back, then it would be considered a gift and cannot be demanded back. If the intent was to give as a loan, then he may demand it back.

Only Allah Almighty knows best.

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

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