Exchanged - Owner now passed away

Rushed44

We exchanged contracts on 19th July. Vendor wanted a 3 month completion as she was using the time to have work done to a flat she owned that she was moving into. Thankfully our buyers agreed to a longer than normal completion and we settled on two months (only three in chain).

The house needs a bit of work done and we had agreed the vendor would allow access for quotes etc. All was going well. Almost two weeks ago we found out the owner has died. Not a huge problem we thought. We knew she had a daughter who lived locally but they didn't really get on. We passed on a sympathy card with our contact details (it's a private sale and not through an agent).

The daughter called me earlier today. The upshot is she is moving in. It's her childhood home and she knows nothing of any sale (but does know about the flat). What the hell do we do now?

Our solicitor has yet to get back to us

davidmcn

Discuss with your solicitor when they get back to you. Executors are bound by the contract. But even if co-operative, unlikely they'll get probate in time for your completion date, so you may need a Plan B if you want to let your sale happen on time.

steampowered

The contract is still valid.

You could require the executors to complete the contract. If they failed to do so, you could seek a court order that the property be transferred to you, and damages from the estate for any costs incurred.

However, you could also agree with the executors to release each other from the contract, if you decide it is not worth the aggro and would prefer to buy something else.

The first step would be to try and find out who the executors of the estate are to make sure they are aware of the contract. Perhaps the daughter will know.

moneyistooshorttomention

Letter from your solicitor saying "It's ours now - contracts have been Exchanged - it's what your mother wants. Continue with sale - or get sued" suitably phrased in solicitor language.

EDIT; If you (and your buyer!) are prepared to agree to it - then you might consider Option B to be that she repays you everything you are owed (deposit/money you've spent on buying the place/any extra money you'd now need for an equivalent place) AND repays your buyer everything they are owed too of course.

But, obviously, your buyer also needs to be in agreement with whatever course of action you decide to take - as they are being affected by the daughter as well.

On balance - I think you need to make it clear to her there is a contract/there's two other parties involved and she must proceed as per plan.

SG27

The contract stands, you will.get the house. (Unless the daughter wants to pay huge costs out of the estate)

The bigger problem is you are also bound by the contract to your buyers you have to to complete also on the day given. This is a complicated one.

My solictor mentioned this happened to her a few years ago. A client died between exchamge and completion. She described it as a nightmare! Sorry ive got no more details.

Ms_Chocaholic

I wonder if the daughter is aware of whether she is a beneficiary or not or just presuming so.

xylophone

You have a contract - the executors should honour it.

Presumably your late vendor was using a solicitor - has your solicitor contacted the deceased's solicitor?

macman

The estate must proceed with completion on the due date in 4 weeks, or face heavy financial penalties should you sue. If you do, you will win.
Both solicitors should be well aware of this: if not, they are incompetent and should not be handling the conveyancing.
Whether it is her childhood home, or she did not know about the sale is irrelevant. If she moves in then the estate cannot complete with vacant possession. The property is effectively now yours, though without right of occupancy: you should have insured it from the date of exchange.

G_M

If things get delayed or cancelled, yes your buyers can come after you for their costs.

But you will simply pass all those costs on to the deceased's Estate.

As everyone is saying, the contract is legally binding in every respect including

* date of Completion
* purchase price
etc

Your conveyancer needs, as a matter of urgency, to contact the original seller's conveyancer, to find out who the Executor of the Estate is. It may or may not be the daughter.

He then needs an assurance that the sale willproceed and on what date.

As also suggested, you could agree if you wished (up to you) to withdraw from the purchase and let the daughter live there. If you do, do so only if she agrees all your costs/losses as well as all your buyers costs/losses (which they'll claim off you).

Rushed44

Some progress today, not all of it good.

Our solicitor spoke to us (he was on hols). He confirmed that we can legally force a completion or we could negotiate to walk away. I have yet to inform our buyers as they are shortly getting married and to be frank they don't need the stress.

I did mention this was a private sale and we came about it as I've worked on the house before doing electrical works and my brother is a handyman who has worked on it also. The sale came about when I was doing some work for her and she commented she was thinking of selling. It's our for life house, needs about £120K spending on it (excluding an £80K extension) but the area and plot is exactly what we're after. She took our first offer and we would have paid an extra £20K for it, maybe more.

The daughter also called and we discussed the issues. She said we can continue with the sale if we up the offer by £80K. I didn't comment on this with her.

Her solicitor has also been in contact with me asking me to attend a meeting in his office next week.

This really is doing our heads in. We need to be in there by 1st Oct as we need the address for a future secondary school application.

Ms_Chocaholic

Rushed44 wrote: »

Some progress today, not all of it good.

Our solicitor spoke to us (he was on hols). He confirmed that we can legally force a completion or we could negotiate to walk away. I have yet to inform our buyers as they are shortly getting married and to be frank they don't need the stress.

I did mention this was a private sale and we came about it as I've worked on the house before doing electrical works and my brother is a handyman who has worked on it also. The sale came about when I was doing some work for her and she commented she was thinking of selling. It's our for life house, needs about £120K spending on it (excluding an £80K extension) but the area and plot is exactly what we're after. She took our first offer and we would have paid an extra £20K for it, maybe more.

The daughter also called and we discussed the issues. She said we can continue with the sale if we up the offer by £80K. I didn't comment on this with her.

Her solicitor has also been in contact with me asking me to attend a meeting in his office next week.

This really is doing our heads in. We need to be in there by 1st Oct as we need the address for a future secondary school application.

I wouldn't be attending the vendor's solicitors office, tell them to contact your solicitor.


Oh just re-read this, is it the daughter's solicitor or the vendor's solicitor?