Rights in an Upper Floor Built on Inherited Property - Jurisprudential Answers - Miscellaneous Issues, Vol 3

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Question 93

A man died leaving a house to five sons and two daughters, all of whom lived there with their mother. Three sons were married and each had a room in the house. One married son built an upper floor. A brother objected that if the house were later sold and the shares divided, he would have no right to demand repayment of what he spent on construction, and he agreed not to make such a demand. Years later he moved back to the room in which he had married and rented out the upper floor, keeping the rent for himself for years. He now demands that the house be valued both without and with the upper floor so that he receives the difference in value in addition to his share of the original house. The questions are: 1. May one heir independently make use of the roof of inherited property? 2. Do the other heirs have a share in the rent from the upper floor, and if so how is that settled after years have passed and the local currency has been unstable? 3. To whom does the upper floor belong, and may the builder demolish it? 4. If he is still living on the upper floor, may he control the house on which he built it, or object if the other heirs collectively decide on a course of action?

Source: Jurisprudential Answers - Miscellaneous Issues, Vol 3; Author: Imam Ahmed Al-Hasan; Question 93; Page 32; FIQH-MISC-V3-Q093. View Arabic source · Open the original Arabic source ↗