Death of a Landlord

clapflam

Hi,

I was shown around a house available to rent the other day by my estate agent that I really liked. I rang the next morning to confirm that I wanted to take it, and was ready to leave a holding deposit. They rang back a bit later and told me that the landlord had died and the property has been left to 5 of his children (I assume in a will, although I'm unsure about this). He told me that 3 of his children still wanted to rent it, but they still need confirmation from the other 2. He seemed confident that it would still be available to rent and that he will 'reserve' it for me.

My question is how long will this all take? I need to move fairly soon and I have been told that probates and such can take a long time. I have a feeling that the estate agent would like me to leave a holding fee (non-refundable) before telling me it's going to take months, or there's a change of price etc.

What should I do? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

King_Of_Bling

clapflam wrote: »

What should I do? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Find somewhere else, these family wrangles could take ages.

tyllwyd

I'd walk away. Any property held jointly by five different people is potentially going to be a nightmare! so it would seem logical that it will eventually be sold. How long ago did the landlord die? I wonder if there is inheritance tax to pay - that might be another reason why the property might get sold.

DizzyDasher

I would also look elsewhere. Years ago my first landlady died, and her children were originally keen to continue to let to us but in the end had to sell to pay the inheritance tax. That was fine for us (we had been there nearly 4 years, so not a bad run really, and had plenty of time to find somewhere else as they gave 2 months notice under our rolling contract) - but in your case I imagine even without the disagreement between siblings it may well take some time to sort out, and the situation may change ... I'd find somewhere with less complications!

clapflam

So I thought I'd post an update. Thanks everyone for the advice.

After talking with the landlord it seemed the probate and everything went through quite quickly and we could have started living there soon as if nothing had happened.

But with all the confusion and change in landlord we didn't realise that apparently the landlord would need a HMO licence if 4 of us wanted to live there (4 students in a 3 bed, 2 reception, 1 bathroom house) and so they rejected our offer.

We've now put a holding deposit down on a different house (4 students, 3 bed, 2 reception, 1 bathroom + 1 extra toilet) which doesn't need a HMO? ..and are in the process of filling out forms.

Thanks again.