Probate Question - In the absence of a Will.

RobStaffs

My wife recently lost her aunt to Covid 19. She was 95. Her husband and her only child are also deceased. There are nine surviving nieces and nephews but she did not make a will.The oldest niece was granted Power of Attorney around two years ago. In terms of arrangements etc then she has requested everything to go through her. We are slightly concerned on a number of levels. 

1. The house is a leasehold house which basically requires a significant amount of work on it. Probably has not been modernized worked on since her husband died in the early 70's. It is also a leasehold and the lease is due to expire in the within the next 5 years.
2  The niece with Power of Attorney is not well known to us although we have been in communication over the last 2 years when the family started to share visits to the aunt. We suggested that we appoint a solicitor to sort out the estate but she was adamant that we are not do this. Everything must go through her. Since then we have passed the funeral directors etc to her but practical things such as informing the various creditors, utilities and banks we are convinced are not being sorted as she does not "do the internet"
To cut it short we are worried about the outcome is terms of facing costs such as any restoration costs to make the house good under the lease agreement or any other liabilities. 
Could anyone advise on where we stand on this ? 

Keep_pedalling

Frankly if she was POA she is probably best placed to apply for letters of administration as she already knows the finances. Getting a solicitor is just going to add significant costs to winding up the estate.

I don’t envy her the job as dealing with a run down flat with such a short lease is going to be a nightmare. Even if the estate has sufficient assets to pay for doing the place up you should not even think about that considering the massive costs that would be needed to extend the lease.

RobStaffs

Keep_pedalling said:

Frankly if she was POA she is probably best placed to apply for letters of administration as she already knows the finances. Getting a solicitor is just going to add significant costs to winding up the estate.

I don’t envy her the job as dealing with a run down flat with such a short lease is going to be a nightmare. Even if the estate has sufficient assets to pay for doing the place up you should not even think about that considering the massive costs that would be needed to extend the lease.

Thanks. Just to add she actually does not have POA. In terms of the property it is a  3 bedroom house but is not frankly inhabitable as it stands. The amount of work required to bring it up to various safety regulations etc will be extensive.  There is no intention to extend the lease although the house is in a very desirable area. We are concerned that the niece in question will exclude all other parties from what is happening and we will not be involved in important decisions. 

xylophone

The oldest niece was granted Power of Attorney around two years ago. 
Just to add she actually does not have POA.

Do you mean that she did have PoA before the aunt died but of course does not have it now because it ended with the death of the aunt?

https://www.fridaysmove.com/articles/applying-letters-administration-15184

See above about who may apply for Letters of Administration.

It seems that you have all agreed that she should apply?

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate

As Administrator she then becomes responsible for dealing with the affairs of the deceased.

You and your other cousins have no responsibility at all for any of your late aunt's bills etc.

Flugelhorn

Just checking that the nine surviving nieces and nephews are all on her side of the family as these are the only ones who can inherit, also that they will each get an equal share of their parent's share

Savvy_Sue

The niece does NOT have power of attorney any more, because that ceases on death. But you said this was granted two years ago. So if she DID have power of attorney, then she should know more about your aunts bank accounts, finances etc than anyone else. 

So did she, or didn't she? 

relaxtwotribes

Are you certain that the house has only 5 years left on the lease, or is that just what you have been told?

Mojisola

RobStaffs said:

We suggested that we appoint a solicitor to sort out the estate but she was adamant that we are not do this. Everything must go through her. Since then we have passed the funeral directors etc to her but practical things such as informing the various creditors, utilities and banks we are convinced are not being sorted as she does not "do the internet"

Has she applied for Letters of Administration?  If not, your wife could do so and take over the estate.  Are there any other nephews/nieces that you know you could trust to apply along with her?

Keep_pedalling

RobStaffs said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Frankly if she was POA she is probably best placed to apply for letters of administration as she already knows the finances. Getting a solicitor is just going to add significant costs to winding up the estate.

I don’t envy her the job as dealing with a run down flat with such a short lease is going to be a nightmare. Even if the estate has sufficient assets to pay for doing the place up you should not even think about that considering the massive costs that would be needed to extend the lease.

Thanks. Just to add she actually does not have POA. In terms of the property it is a  3 bedroom house but is not frankly inhabitable as it stands. The amount of work required to bring it up to various safety regulations etc will be extensive.  There is no intention to extend the lease although the house is in a very desirable area. We are concerned that the niece in question will exclude all other parties from what is happening and we will not be involved in important decisions. 

The only people who would be interested in such a property would be cash buyers looking to make a profit on doing it up and flipping it. Bearing in mind such a buyer would not be able to extend the lease for 2 years and with only 3 years left on the lease would by looking at forking out around 80% of the value of the property to extend the lease, these buyers are going to be few and far between. And when I say 80% of its value I mean it’s value with a 90 year lease.

I think you would find it hard to get back anything spent on renovations and would be unwise to through assets at what is likely to be a money pit.  

badger09

Why does your wife not want to let this niece deal with the estate? It sounds as though it is going to be difficult to administer, and as others have said, having dealt with the finances under POA the niece would be best placed to do this. 

Dandylion

Whoever applies to be administrator of the estate will be under the same obligation as an executor - to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries. That may include taking advice about how best to deal with the house, and once things have started functioning as normal, it would be worth whoever is administrator looking into the cost effectiveness of buying the freehold. I was in this exact position a few years ago, with a leasehold property in poor condition; estate agents suggested auction was the only option. However once we found out how much the freehold would cost, we went ahead with that and the house eventually sold for an awful lot more than the auction guide. I think we initially had to pay a valuation fee to get the freehold price, but this was included in the cost of the freehold once we went ahead. As someone mentioned earlier, if someone buys the house as is (leasehold) they don't have the same rights regarding the freehold as the occupier/executor/administrator - at least not straightaway, and this is likely to affect the selling price.