How long does a Power of Attorney take?

zareer

Hi everyone, hope someone can help with a Power of Attorney question I have....

We saw the place of our dreams a few weeks ago - the owner is an elderly lady who had recently moved into a home and the place was being sold by the owner's daughter.

Subsequently transpires that the daughter hasn't received PoA to sell the place. We were waiting to find out last week whether the family doctor would sign off to say that the old dear was of sound mind and body, but it turns out that the doctor cannot do so (he's not an NHS doctor apparently).

anyway, the agent is telling us that the daughter now has to apply to the courts to get the PoA and that it will take up to 3 months for the sale to proceed. Is this correct? Are we resigned to losing this place? Does anyone have any experience of this?

We are in no real rush to move and would like to be as accommodating as possible to the family, but also don't want to be wasting our time if these things drag on for months.

Thanks for reading...

mlz1413

Hi i'm not sure about your main question (although I think that answer could depend on how good their solicitor is!) but i've just bought a flat being sold as owner had passed away, I had problems with lease because it was in decease's name, this had to be changed to allow the sale, made worse by vendors empolying a twit of a solicitor.

So my word of caution is that if your house is being sold by PofA and old lady dies then everything changes again, as PofA dies when persons does and then it's the executor of will who have to get everything changed into their name to sell property.

Your not very clear on your situation so I would say write down pro's & con's of waiting for that house, assuming old lady is in sound mind then she should be a long way off meeting grime reaper and so the only wait will be PofA coming through.

So if you are renting and really want that house and vendors stop marketing then you are def going to buy and be only two in chain. Obviously if you have somewhere to sell then a long chain will make things really difficult as no one will have a time span and your unlikely to get a buyer who will stick around.

Good Luck

Austin_Allegro

I went through this with my father earlier this year, the official info is here:

http://www.publicguardian.gov.uk/decisions/decisions.htm

If the lady has not given Power of Attorney to someone else but has become of unsound mind then yes, the case has to go through the Court of Protection, who will appoint a Deputy to manage her affairs, I believe this takes around a month though it could be longer if there are complications - check the info on the website.

sandman2ooo

A long shot, given the age of the thread, but how long did the PoA take in the end?

I am currently buying a house and the situation didn't actually come to our attention until after the survey so I feel a bit locked in but, seeing as I am paying rent, waiting another three months seems a nuisance to say the least! Essentially it means I had the offer accepted 5 weeks ago and have heard very little since in the way of progress. The PoA was lodged 3 weeks ago AFAIK.

Thanks,

Alex.

dorset_nurse

I am very practiced at waiting for PoAs to go through and they very rarely take 2 months! I would say an average of 6 months usually and sometimes 12 :mad:
If you're not in a rush it doesn't matter, but PoA in the elderly can take a while! (Especially if there is fluctuating agreement about the persons capacity)

kingstreet

If the owner has capacity, there's no real need for a Power of Attorney as she would be viewed as able to complete the contract and a single visit to a solicitor to sign the necessary documentation. A person with capacity may give a Power of Attorney to someone else to handle their finances, but I'd say these are few.

I imagine there is a capacity issue in this case which makes things more difficult and involved. The Public Guardian will need to be involved and their website indicates the turnaround times for an Enduring or Lasting Power of Attorney is around 9 to 12 weeks. These are of course the timescales for a fully completed application and do not reflect time to get the paperwork together before applying.

Catti

It is worth noting that the Court has quite a backlog these days - it usually takes around 3 months to simply register an LPA, but to get a Deputyship Order can take nearer 5 months.

sandman2ooo

Many thanks for the replies, it does give me a better indication of timescale which is more than anyone else (i.e. vendor / estate agents) have been able to give. I can't say it makes me much happier though, I had hoped that us renting and the house being empty would have worked in our favour in terms of speed.

Alex.

sandman2ooo

The good news appears that the guy is not incapacitated but somewhat deaf and since the conveyancing solicitor is telephone / Internet based only, this is the reason for the power of attorney. Therefore there now seems to be some conversation between the solicitors doing the conveyancing and those doing the power of attorney to ensure that things aren't held up too much. Fingers cross on this one!!

Alex.

DVardysShadow

sandman2ooo wrote: »

Many thanks for the replies, it does give me a better indication of timescale which is more than anyone else (i.e. vendor / estate agents) have been able to give. I can't say it makes me much happier though, I had hoped that us renting and the house being empty would have worked in our favour in terms of speed.

Being in rented means no chain. It is a distinct advantage for a purchase like this to be in rented. Imagne having a frustrated buyer who is losing patience ....

sandman2ooo wrote: »

The good news appears that the guy is not incapacitated but somewhat deaf and since the conveyancing solicitor is telephone / Internet based only, this is the reason for the power of attorney. Therefore there now seems to be some conversation between the solicitors doing the conveyancing and those doing the power of attorney to ensure that things aren't held up too much. Fingers cross on this one!!

Must be crazy to be deaf and employ this type of solicitor. In the end, I think you will view the internet solicitor as a bigger hindrance than a PoA would have been ...

Davesnave

mlz1413 wrote: »

.....a long way off meeting grime reaper

Is he like the other one, but employed by the council to tackle those really nasty, unnoticed deaths?