Made an offer - Probate sale

Better_Days

Property initially on the market at £275k, then dropped to £250k as no interest. Its a probate sale, empty, with more than one beneficiary.

In a nice spot, but very dated, and needs new carpets (many of the carpets appear to be 1970's or 1980's from the patterns) and decoration in most rooms. Large flat roof (35 foot long) which needs to be replaced (has leaked and damaged ceiling in more than one place) and also 4 metre wide patio doors which are broken.

No comparable properties sold nearby in the last 7 years.

Have made a starting offer of £220k.

Anyone bought a probate property, and are there any particular pitfalls that I need to watch out for?

tim123456789

Yeah,

Because they don't actually need to sell,beneficiaries over-expectations of value can frequently exceed those of OOs.

OTHO, sometimes they just want to get rid off, ASAP, for whatever they can get.

YMMV

tim

Lister_2

We've just bought a probate. The problems we found were:

The length of time it took to turn our offer around. The bank were acting as executor, required offers in writing, and had to contact many (20!) relatives. In hindsight the estate agent had obviously been given ballpark figures to process, but our final offer took over a week to be accepted.

The property had to remain on sale until exchange. This seems to be a standard thing where the bank are selling, as they need to prove they are getting maximum value for the beneficiaries. It's not quite as bad as it sounds since the estate agent no longer wants to expend any money or effort showing people around or advertising the property, but it was still pretty stressful trying to get exchange through quickly thinking we were going to get gazumped.

Nobody knows, or will guarantee anything about the property. The bank wash their hands of any kind of information. It's basically sold as seen so you need to do your own homework and talk to neighbours etc if you have queries about its history. For instance, ours had a loft conversion done which I discovered early on had no building regs by searching the local authority portal, and there was also confusion over whether there was private drainage which I clarified with neighbours. On moving day nobody knew where the stopcock was etc. All adds to the stress.

As you say, lots of maintenance / updating to be done, but we payed less for a potentially great house.

ps. Also the central heating had been drained as the house stood empty. An utter nightmare to get working again due to airlocks and no drain valves. Without heating for 4 days. Not what you want when stressed already!

Dan-Dan

Well , if it helps , we are selling a probate house as i type , and we also live in it , we are sole executors and joint beneficiaries , and i would say , it does depend what pressure the executor may be under from other beneficiaries , to either hold out for the maximum amount ,or to quick sale just so the money comes through ASAP, or there may be other will related considerations that can only be satisfied if the property sells for a certain amount , so bear that in mind if dealing with a probate property

On the whole though, i can’t see that it’s a great deal different than buying a `normal` house, and in many instances, it should be quicker

hazyjo

They might not know all that's happened with the house, might be missing paperwork, and won't be able to answer all of your solicitor's questions.

I'm buying from an executor, but it seems everything was sorted a couple of years ago when the owner (his mum) died. That's all my solicitor told me to watch out for - and said I should definitely get a survey (which I would anyway).

Jx

jaybeetoo

Better_Days wrote: »

Its a probate sale, empty, with more than one beneficiary.

Find out who the executors are and if they are also the beneficiaries. If there are lots of them then expect long delays for them all to agree!

They may want to sell quickly - an empty house is a concern for the executors. It needs looking after and regular checking.

As hazyjo says, don't expect the executors to know the full history of the house. You may not get answers to some of the questions on the seller's property information form. I sold my father's house when he died and the buyers solicitor was unreasonable in expecting me to be able to answer some of the questions. I contacted the buyer, explained the situation (I hadn't lived in the house for over 30 years) and they instructed their solicitor not to keep pushing for answers on the questions I genuinely couldn't answer.

Better_Days

Many thanks to you all for the information and for sharing your experiences, it is exactly what I was hoping for, and has clarified my thoughts about buying a probate house

OMG Lister - 20 beneficiaries! I had expected the property to be no longer marketed if they accept my offer, so I will have to check that. As far as I am aware it is the executor(s) who are selling, rather than the bank. Sorry to hear your CH woes, we have had days without heat here in our rental too (very tempremental system) and it is no joke when it is so cold.

EA have been coy about the number of executors and what stage the probate process has got to.

I know that for this property there is more than one beneficiary but I need to find out how many. And a good point jaybeetoo I need to find out if all the beneficiaries are also executors.

Thanks hazyjo for pointing out that it is even more important to get a survey as it is likely there will not be so much information available about the property.

tim123456789 and Dan-Dan, I was hoping that the executors would want a quick sale to wind up the estate, but of course it does depend on the individual circumstances. Well, I expect I will find out in the next day or so.

Thanks all.

getmore4less

Make sure they have the grant.

it is possible to proceed some way without it but not worth the hastle.

Fire_Fox

Better_Days wrote: »

EA have been coy about the number of executors and what stage the probate process has got to.

I know that for this property there is more than one beneficiary but I need to find out how many. And a good point jaybeetoo I need to find out if all the beneficiaries are also executors.

Thanks hazyjo for pointing out that it is even more important to get a survey as it is likely there will not be so much information available about the property.

tim123456789 and Dan-Dan, I was hoping that the executors would want a quick sale to wind up the estate, but of course it does depend on the individual circumstances. Well, I expect I will find out in the next day or so.

Thanks all.

Probate can take months or years, it's not a simple process they are loads of legal hoops. Executors have a duty to do it properly not quickly and many are doing this in their spare time.

You need answers from the estate agent/ vendor, coy is a bad sign. IMO write a letter.

Better_Days

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Probate can take months or years, it's not a simple process they are loads of legal hoops. Executors have a duty to do it properly not quickly and many are doing this in their spare time.

You need answers from the estate agent/ vendor, coy is a bad sign. IMO write a letter.

Thanks Fire Fox.

Spoke to someone else at EA today who told me there are two beneficiaries and one of whom is executor. He confirmed probate not yet granted.

My offer of £220k rejected

Thinking of making a final offer of £230k on Monday, although it will be academic if granting the probate drags on.

Hmmm... you are right Fire Fox, I need to push harder to find out exactly what stage the probate process is at.

Think I will say to EA on Monday:
Thinking of increasing my offer, but before I do so I need to know for definite:
1) Was there a will, and if so
2) How many beneficiaries?
3) How many executors?
4) Has the grant of probate actually been applied for and if so when?
5) Are the relatives d/w all this themselves or have they engaged a solicitor?

Anything else I need to check?
Thanks