Slowed to a standstill!

T4taylor

Hi there,
We put an offer in for a property that was accepted on the 23rd November. Valuation, mortgage offer and searches all came back fine. We anticipated a delay over the Christmas holidays but the date of completion was mentioned as “end of Jan”. Since Christmas we have found out the property our seller is buying is going to probate as the owner passed away. He was living in a nursing home and the family were wanting to sell to pay for the costs. We were informed about this on the 4th Jan but assured the family still want to sell and that our seller was now hoping for February half term to move.

However since then we have heard diddly-squat, besides an email from the estate agent, after I chased it stating, “I do not know how long this process will take.” Now surely someone knows if we are talking weeks or months here, depending on the complexity of the will (if there is one?). It is unreasonable to ask for a timescale? We have been very relaxed with the process so far but as first time buyers we are wasting money on rent and also need to give 30 days whenever the time comes to move out.

I also feel as no completion date was set, everyone seems to be taking their sweet time, safe in the knowledge that they have secure buyers. We’re getting really frustrated and starting to consider if we can ask to break the chain e.g. we buy seller’s house and she moves elsewhere whilst waiting for probate (she has said her partner has a home).
I have spoke to one of the paralegals working for my conveyancer but after leaving that for a week, I have found out nothing has been done and our conveyancer is very busy with some complex completions. I appreciate she has other cases to manage, but it feels like completion is a distant dream for us!
Any advice/ suggestions welcome x

CommitedToChange

Probate can take ages - but as they were trying to sell the property before it shouldn't be too awful.

You could set a date at which point you start looking at other properties and you can certainly ask your vendors to break the chain. Maybe say if things don't start moving by x date you want to discuss breaking the chain, give them a week to chase their vendors.

Get your sol to email the vendors sol with these suggestions. Now us the time to do this as their normally busier at the end of the week.

Also come join us on the waiting to exchange thread - you'll get lots of advice on there.

Cakeguts

Probate will take as long as it takes. Your conveyancer can't do anything until the person who is trying to get probate on an estate gets it. Until then they can't sell the house.

G_M

Probate can be granted within a few weeks, if the estate is straightforward and the will is clear.

Or it can take 6+ months.

If the estate is complicated it might take months to work out (and agree with HMRC) how much Inheritance Tax is due - this needs agreeing before Probate can be granted.

If the will is unclear, or challenged, then that too could ddelay things hugely.

So

surely someone knows if we are talking weeks or months here, depending on the complexity of the will (if there is one?). It is unreasonable to ask for a timescale?

* no, no one may know as yet, and
* no, not unreasonable to ask, but
* yes unreasonable to expect a definitative answer

Surrey_EA

T4taylor wrote: »

Now surely someone knows if we are talking weeks or months here, depending on the complexity of the will (if there is one?). It is unreasonable to ask for a timescale?

I'm afraid that there isn't anyone who can tell you if it will be weeks or months, it will take as long as it takes.

There is no point asking for a timescale, as there is no way anyone can give you a meaningfully accurate answer.

Your options are to sit patiently and wait, or begin looking for an alternative property.

Vampyr

The executors of estate should have an idea of whether probate will take 1 month or 6. It's laziness on the EA's part that they haven't bothered to check. Tell the EA to find out, or you are walking away. It's part of their job to hold the chain together - their commission depends on it!

T4taylor

Thank you very much for all of your responses. I really appreciate getting your insight as I seemed to be getting little from the professionals! Is it just my situation or do they seem to be really hard to get hold of? EA’s number always goes to answering machine and she emails me back rather than calling and the solicitors switchboard has cut me off on various occasions so I have to call multiple times. The only success was when I went in person and the paralegal assured me she would get on it (turns out she didn’t but she at least sounded helpful at the time). I promise I’m not mad stalking these people, I’ve just called a handful of times and seem to be getting nowhere!

CommitedToChange

It's not you. Solicitors and EA's can be the worst.

Surrey_EA

Vampyr wrote: »

The executors of estate should have an idea of whether probate will take 1 month or 6. It's laziness on the EA's part that they haven't bothered to check.

Not necessarily. Each situation will be different. It may not yet be clear how complicated, or simple, the estate may be. It may be that the probate office in that particular part of the country has a huge backlog. Lot of variables.

Vampyr wrote: »

Tell the EA to find out, or you are walking away. It's part of their job to hold the chain together - their commission depends on it!

The EA is only as good as the information they have been given. The executors and solicitors involved may not yet know how long things will take, therefore the EA may not currently have any useful information to pass on.

Vampyr

Surrey_EA wrote: »

The EA is only as good as the information they have been given. .

Then push for better information! The executor will in most cases know whether it is a simple estate or a complicated one. It’s one of the first things that comes up when you talk to a probate solicitor or fill out the probate forms.

T4taylor, sorry to say this but while the EA thinks you are a guaranteed buyer, they will do nothing for you. They will only act when their commission is in danger. If I were you I’d start looking for other places while this goes on. I wouldn’t spend any more money on this until they give you an answer. On the plus side, probate sellers can be quite motivated to cash in as quickly as possible and you might find things go smoothly once probate is granted.

ProDave

My mother died 6 months ago. Still waiting for that to go through probate......