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Crowdedhouse_2
Posts: 87 Forumite
My aunt is selling my cousin's house following my cousin's death. Aunt was estranged from my cousin for many years due to cousin being an alcoholic.
House was up for sale and advertised with an estate agent as needing complete renovation and this was reflected in the price. A buyer has now been found (a property developer).
Aunt has just received from her solicitor a Law Society Property Information form for her to complete. The problem is aunt does not know the answer to any of the questions on the form. Aunt is now in her very late 80s and does not seem to understand that she cannot guess at the answers to put on the form. I have tried to explain numerous times that the answers must be truthful and accurate.
She had not been to my cousin's house for over 20 years and before that had only been there once or twice in total back in the mid '90s. Similarly, myself and other family members had never been to the house prior to cousin's death.
What can aunt do? Has anyone ever filled out one of these forms with 'don't know' as the answer to every question?
Many thanks.
House was up for sale and advertised with an estate agent as needing complete renovation and this was reflected in the price. A buyer has now been found (a property developer).
Aunt has just received from her solicitor a Law Society Property Information form for her to complete. The problem is aunt does not know the answer to any of the questions on the form. Aunt is now in her very late 80s and does not seem to understand that she cannot guess at the answers to put on the form. I have tried to explain numerous times that the answers must be truthful and accurate.
She had not been to my cousin's house for over 20 years and before that had only been there once or twice in total back in the mid '90s. Similarly, myself and other family members had never been to the house prior to cousin's death.
What can aunt do? Has anyone ever filled out one of these forms with 'don't know' as the answer to every question?
Many thanks.
0
Comments
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When you sell a house like that you can't know the answers. Just write a simple phrase of "probate sale, no idea" (well, better worded) to indicate that you've read the question and don't know the answer.
I filled in one to the best of my knowledge and the estate agent said "they'll know you won't know all the answers as it wasn't your house"0 -
If you genuinely don't know then, as above, put 'Not known'. This must happen regularly. It's up to the buyer to satisfy themselves on any points that are important to them.
And, a professional buyer is much more likely to 'take a view' on these things.You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friend's nose.0 -
Thank you for your replies.0
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Silly question but.... I assume aunt is Executer of the will? And Probate has been granted?
As for the form, yes:
"Not known".
But why is she not getting advice from her solicitor?0 -
Silly question but.... I assume aunt is Executer of the will? And Probate has been granted?
As for the form, yes:
"Not known".
But why is she not getting advice from her solicitor?
I hope your aunt has a will herself, just in case things go wrong."It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"
G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP0 -
Crowdedhouse wrote: »Has anyone ever filled out one of these forms with 'don't know' as the answer to every question?
Yes, perfectly normal. Repossessions typically have that for every answer, even the ones they blatantly do know the answer to.0 -
All strength to you & Aunt!
Yes, ignorance is acceptable & the property developer will not run away squealing - it's their business to know or be able to find out most of the answers.
All best wishes for a smooth sale.0 -
Assuming the answers are don't know.DigForVictory wrote: »All strength to you & Aunt!
From the OP I got the idea that the aunt was inventing or guessing answers to questions which is definitely not a good idea.0 -
Thank you everyone for your replies.
Yes, aunt is administrator as cousin left no will so she inherited everything as next of kin. The firm of solicitors dealing with the house sale are the same firm of solicitors dealing with the probate side of things, albeit a different solicitor for each matter.
Most of the dealings with the probate solicitor have had to be via me as aunt is very deaf and following several falls recently where she had to be hospitalised is now practically immobile so rarely goes out.
Probate was applied for back at the beginning of September and Inheritance Tax paid by bank transfer on the same day. However I don't know whether solicitor has received the letters of administration yet. She stated that it should be received in about 10-14 days! If the grant has been received the solicitor certainly hasn't informed aunt!
Luckily, aunt managed to update her own will before she started having falls and becoming more housebound.
When aunt was guessing the replies I only listened and didn't write anything down on the form. She only received the form on Friday so the form remains blank at the moment.
I think I will try and make an appointment to see the solicitor dealing with the house sale side of things as neither myself nor aunt have had any contact at all with her apart from the form being sent to aunt. I will just get aunt to sign the form and armed with all your helpful information will tell her that the answers are all 'not known'. And see how it goes from there.
Many, many thanks.0 -
Since you seem to be acting on her behalf, perhaps she should rescind her grant of representation and you should apply?
Getting her to sign blank legal dcuments and then filling them in yourself is....... dodgy! Granted, with the PIF, it's no big deal, but suppose you got her to sign the sale contract without the sale price? Or a blank cheque? In principal, it is not a good way to operate.
And it might be wise for your aunt to also consider granting you, or some other trusted person, Power of attourney, given that she is struggling.
If this is done while she still has mental capacity to appoint a POA, it is much simpler than waiting till dementia, old age, deafness or illness means she loses mental capacity.0
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