Properties in the UK

[Alexander Rowland Marshall]

Hi folks, 

My family owns a house in England. It was my grandparents' home and when they passed they left it to their 3 children, two of whom (my father included) decided to divest and leave the house with their eldest. Now that the eldest's surviving spouse is nearing the end of life the question of what will become of the house has come up. The current plan is for the house to be left to their children (my cousins) and as far as I understand it they just plan to sell and split the cash. I don't know it's exact value but I would guess in the neighborhood of 1.5 million. Does anyone know anything about real estate in the UK? Speaking with my brothers this past weekend we talked about trying to keep the house in the family by buying it from our cousins. I know if it were in the US I would explore a seller financed deal where we write a 15 year note for the property so that we essentially pay our cousins in monthly installments and take over control of the property. I figure we could rent it out to cover that expense, maybe make a few extra bucks on top each month and keep the house in the family that way. I don't know if that is even possible in the UK, though. Does anyone have any experience with real estate in England?