NSW Received Life Estate Through Will - Am I Owner or Tenant?

[Alexander_Descartes]

I was given a life estate through a will. Am I legally entitled to call myself the owner of the property?

The reason why I am asking is because the current house and contents insurance is coming up for renewal. I am thinking of shopping around to see if I can get a better rate. The assessment questionnaire on the various house and contents insurance websites only gives you two options with respect to my status vis-a-vis the property - tenant or owner - I really don't know which category I'm in.

The same situation often occurs with phone queries to insurance companies. The sales staff often have not heard of the concept of life tenancy or life estate and don't know how to handle my query.

For the record my current insurance company is aware that I am a life tenant - happily the concept doesn't seem to be foreign to them.

 

[Rod]

Your name...took me back on a side trip re-looking at philosophy and morals and ethics...

Back to your question - unless you are on title, or setup through some kind of trust arrangement, you are not the owner. The only other options left are guest, with few rights and obligations, or tenant.

Your obligations under a life tenancy should have been clearly articulated in the will (eg. who pays house insurance, contents insurance, rates, services etc). In the absence of a something legal, the moral position would be for the true owners to secure their asset through insurance, and you pay for items you use and consume (eg. contents insurance, rates, gas, electricity etc).

 

[Alexander_Descartes]

Nothing personal, but I suspect your answer is overly pessimistic. I was about to edit my question when your answer was posted.

For the record, my life tenancy is of a type where I have full possession of the property, do not pay rent, I am entitled to let the property and collect rents, and I don’t have a landlord. I am required to pay the rates and the keep the property in good order and condition - which I do.

All of these rights and duties are specified in the will. Also I have found out that my name should appear on the Certificate of Title as a Life Tenant. This does not seem to have been done by the solicitor handling the will and I will be following this up.

Since I am an executor of the estate my name and the name of the other executor are currently on the Certificate of Title as owner anyway. I believe I am much closer to owner than tenant. I could even sell the property with the agreement of the other executor. The only thing I cant do is bequeath the property in a will.