Some years ago, we inherited a piece of property and, recently, we thought of selling it as the majority agreed to do so. We thought that since we’ve heard that the law on inherited property was changed, there’s nothing to stop us from selling.

Well, it’s not as easy as the minister makes it out to be.

We put the property for sale and when prospective buyers asked questions about who owns the property, price and so on and learnt that not all of us agreed on the sale, they were somewhat put off, to put it mildly.

When the prospective buyers contact their notary/lawyer, most of them are advised they better forget it and look elsewhere. This is because when the promise of sale is finalised, it needs the blessing of the court, so to speak. The court needs to verify certain facts, including who owns which, the total value of property etc. I’ve got it from reliable sources that this can take from six months to a year, if it’s approved at all.

Now can anyone honestly tell me how any sane buyer is going to go through all this hassle, wait all this time, only to then find out that the court objected to the sale?

Let’s face it, it’s not that easy to sell when one is faced with what I would call unnecessary obstacles. I learnt that quite a few properties cannot be sold for the above reasons. So what the minister tried to do, with the aim of making it easier for the majority of inheritors to sell their property, fell short of the desired scope.

I sincerely hope the minister would again have a look at the amended law and try to come up with a better way for the many vacant properties to be sold. Surely, there’s got to be an easier way.