Making alterations to house while waiting for grant of probate

lukelrc

Hello,

Our father passed away recently and left us a house which he had built himself and is about 99% complete.

My two younger brothers were living with dad in the house when he died and are still living there now. It's a big house for them to run, so we intend to sell it asap.

We have a builder booked in to finish the house - erecting a boundary wall, laying a driveway and turfing the garden.

I applied for grant of probate last week, but it will probably be a while until it comes through.

My question is: are we allowed to go ahead with doing these changes to the house before the grant of probate has been given? Or should we cancel the builder for now?

Many thanks.

g6jns_2

lukelrc wrote: »

Hello,

Our father passed away recently and left us a house which he had built himself and is about 99% complete.

My two younger brothers were living with dad in the house when he died and are still living there now. It's a big house for them to run, so we intend to sell it asap.

We have a builder booked in to finish the house - erecting a boundary wall, laying a driveway and turfing the garden.

I applied for grant of probate last week, but it will probably be a while until it comes through.

My question is: are we allowed to go ahead with doing these changes to the house before the grant of probate has been given? Or should we cancel the builder for now?

Many thanks.

Is there a will? Assuming the excutor is happy then it should be OK. The executor needs to make it plain in writing who is responsible for what get written confirmation that this is a licence until probate and that they will then leave.

lukelrc

Sorry I should have mentioned - yes there is a will and I am the executor. I'm just worried that Dad's assets don't belong to us until I've been given grant of probate, so I'm not sure we're allowed to do any building/alterations until then.

Many thanks,

g6jns_2

lukelrc wrote: »

Sorry I should have mentioned - yes there is a will and I am the executor. I'm just worried that Dad's assets don't belong to us until I've been given grant of probate, so I'm not sure we're allowed to do any building/alterations until then.

Many thanks,

Although formally executors have limited powers before probate there should be no problem in doing what you want to. Obviously document all expenditure that will eventually have to be incorporated into the estate accounts. Make sure the property is insuredASAP as the policy may have lapsed.

lukelrc

OK, that's great thank you!

getmore4less

Be careful with valuations and potential CGT implications if any of the beneficiaries don't live in the house.

lukelrc

There's just us three beneficiaries. My two brothers, who lived/still live in the house, and myself who doesn't. I'm not sure how it will work, but I assume that if we increase the value by more than £33,000 I'll have to pay 28% of one-third of the increase over 33k? If that makes sense?

Many thanks

getmore4less

You need to do more research.

Savvy_Sue

Another question would be to check that you have the resources to pay the builder before you get probate / obtain access to the funds in Dad's accounts.

lukelrc

Thanks, yeah we do.

lukelrc

getmore4less wrote: »

You need to do more research.

Yeah, maybe I should ask people for some advice. Oh wait...