Made an offer on a house that may be sold under probate, tips?

moneysavingplumber

Hi all,

Have made a cheeky low offer on an empty property that is sadly being sold due to the owner passing away recently. The only son has instructed the agents and he lives abroad and just wants it sold. We're expecting a decision back tomorrow.

I'm assuming that he's selling it as executor of the will, as part of the deceased's estate, as opposed to having inherited the property.

Obviously if the offer is accepted then our conveyancer will deal with the legalities of ownership later on. However, having been bitten once by a timewasting vendor that has cost us £600 in fees, I'd be interested to know of any specific questions to ask in this type of purchase early on, before committing any money to another survey.

Thanks in advance.

getmore4less

I would find out who is dealing with the estate in the UK.
If it is solicitors they will likely be doing the convayancing as well.

Check they have already got probate/letters of administration they need that to sell and start collecting up the asets of the estate.

PerfectPeaches

Only thing that I have found when dealing with clients purchasing a property whereby there is probate is that the sellers (executors etc) generally have no real knowledge of the property so it tends to be sold as seen and the buyers solicitors will tend to advise that the buyer makes their own enquiries and any property enquiries (additional info, property info forms) are not answered.

Try and find a solicitor who has been specialising in property for a long time as they will no doubt have plenty of advise to give on these matters and will have acted for both the seller and buyer in these circumstances.

WestonDave

As above - don't risk a basic valuation - you really need at least a homebuyers report as there may be a lack of information about the properties condition due to its most recent resident not being available and family members possibly not being aware of issues that the deceased was keeping private. May be best to use a local solicitor with long knowledge of the area rather than a cheap online one - it may be that a local solicitor can warn you of local issues - for example where I live there are a lot of houses on leasehold land rather than the usual freehold, or there may be listing/conservation/planning issues that an experienced solicitor with local knowledge should point out, where one working from a distance may not be aware of.

If the previous owner has only recently died it may take a while to get probate etc so don't expect quick progress - on the other hand in most cases the beneficiaries want their cash as soon as possible so are often willing to take less provided you can demonstrate an ability to proceed as quickly as the probate process allows.

rosyw

There is another complication that could arrise, when probate was/is granted an estimated value would have been place on the house, if it is then sold much below that, questions could be asked by those that have inherited the property, ghe executor is required to get the best possible price, even if that means waiting to sell until the market improves. If the property has been left to family members I wouldn't have thought there would be much of a problem, unless one of them gets greedy!

henpecked1

top tip - family rub hands for the money.

moneysavingplumber

rosyw wrote: »

There is another complication that could arrise, when probate was/is granted an estimated value would have been place on the house, if it is then sold much below that, questions could be asked by those that have inherited the property, ghe executor is required to get the best possible price, even if that means waiting to sell until the market improves. If the property has been left to family members I wouldn't have thought there would be much of a problem, unless one of them gets greedy!

That's an interesting one, thanks. It won't be until we learn whether the offer is accepted that we'll be able to move forward and get more information. We're certainly offering current market value given that it needs complete modernisation. I think the son is the sole heir to the estate, it's a question that I've already asked. Probate hasn't come through yet apparently, so even if the offer is accepted we won't be paying for a survey until that side is all sorted (already blown £440 on one HBR on a different property that has as-good-as fallen through), and we'll certainly be trying to make contact with the UK solicitors handling the estate at the earliest opportunity.

moneysavingplumber

henpecked1 wrote: »

top tip - family rub hands for the money.

Good point.

mongmoney

I bought my house when the brother and sister were fighting over it. I found that getting the homebuyers report helped me greatly. It scared me though too-lots of work to do. However, my solicitor was dealing with the seller too. This enabled me to pay £3000 under the asking price, the figure that the house was actually worth at the time. It completed in 6 weeks.

tyllwyd

The owners don't have to agree, but when we bought our house it was in a very dingy state (50 years worth of nicotine stains on the walls etc) and we needed to move in on the day of purchase, so they allowed us to have access to the keys through the estate agent after exchange to do some work - rewiring, cleaning up, new carpets.

moneysavingplumber

All academic in the end, vendor accepted higher offer. Thanks everybody, advice may come in useful again :beer:.