Solicitor acting as executer of Will selling house for less than market value.

rachelmck_2

I have serious doubts that the solicitor ( appointed by my grandfather before he died) is acting in my families best interest. Basically my Grandfathers house was originally valued at £119,000 and due to recent drop in house prices was drastically reduced to £99,000.- we recently received a letter from the solicitor saying he had accepted an offer of £80,000-( no mention of negotiation) and that because 3 out of the 6 beneficiaries of the will had accepted this would be going through very quickly.
I have concerns over why the Solicitor is so keen to sell this property at such a reduced price, and want to be sure no dodgy dealings are taking place.
Does the fact that 3 of the 6 beneficiaries accept this deal,render the remaining 3 without a voice? ?

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

a lot depends on whether the house was ever likely to sell at 99k and quickly

Georgie4

Ask for details of the buyer and share your concerns with the solicitor that it is being sold under its true value. Can you get an estate agent or valuer out to give you a realistic 6 week sale price ? If you feel the solicitor is behaving improperly you can report them to the Law Society

bob79

There was an article on this in the Guardian of last Saturday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/apr/18/probate-writing-a-will
Might be of use, although you might be too far along on the process for the guy portrayed in the article to do anything for you.

rachelmck_2

Thanks for advice about the Law society- I know we are trying to voice our concerns with the solicitor at the moment so I will see what comes of that. It just feels like somebody other then the family's best interest are being served.

RomansProperties

Why dont you phone a house buying company and see what they would offer for the property and compare this to the offer your solicitor accepted?

Trollfever

For independent professional advice contact RICS:

http://www.rics.org/

Cliveski2009

Interesting Guardian article.

I find it suprising that the solicitor can force the sale through when there isn't a majortiy of beneficiaries in agreement to sell at that price. I can understand why there need not be total agreement between you all, but surely there must be a majority?

I don't think the solicitor is doing anything underhand really, except being keen to get your case resolved so he can take on another. If the house is being advertisied at £100k you should still expect cheeky offers from people who are perhaps aware 'the estate' want it sold. On the face of it £80k is a low offer but given the circumstances of the sale and the present market I would take it as once split 6 ways the difference is £1k each had you managed to acheive £86k, £2k each had you managed to achieve £92k.

Is it not best to have the money in your hand and the business concluded?

I was in a smiliar position last year when we sold my Gran's flat. We were asking £100k and sold it for £88k - at the time I wanted to hold out for more but selling it was the best thing we ever did - they are now selling for £78k maximum!

GDB2222

I very much doubt that there's anything untoward. You need in this market to offer a decent discount if you want the property sold fairly quickly.

If all 6 beneficiaries are in agreement, you could ask the executor to transfer the property to all 6 of you, and then you can sell it, or let it, or do what you like with it. Apart from that, assuming the will requires the property to be sold and the proceeds divided, you can hardly complain if the executor gets on with doing just that. After all, it's not going to help you much if he gets another £2k for the property but runs up fees of £3k doing so.

rachelmck_2

I believe that the in the case of no majority ( as is the case here) the solicitor has the final say , as he was appointed executor.