Emergency repairs to a house during probate

beavere38

I have a relative who has died in the last week. At their house two sections of roof are leaking which has caused the ceilings to come down. There is no sign of a will, it looks likely I will be inheriting the estate but that is not guaranteed.
I would like to get the roof fixed asap to prevent further deterioration inside the building. It could also become dangerous if the joists rot and I am having to go in there to retrieve mountains of paperwork as the relative was a hoarder.
I don't have the funds to pay for this myself. Is it ok to use funds from the estate to do these repairs? It could be the relative has left everything to a cats home or something and I don't want to get in trouble but I would class the repairs as being emergency work. Thanks in advance.

xylophone

I would like to get the roof fixed asap to prevent further deterioration inside the building. 

Are you applying to be administrator of the estate? If not, who is?

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

beavere38

"Are you applying to be administrator of the estate? If not, who is?"
I imagine I will be after I have spoken to a solicitor tomorrow. The situation is more complicated than I actually stated. The person who died was my sister. She never married or had kids and we are the only two siblings. Dad died years ago and Mum is in hospital having palliative care, she may only have days left to live. If there is no will Mum will inherit my sister's estate. Mum has left everything to me so it will eventually all come to me unless I can find a will my sister made. I have power of attorney for my Mum (financial and health) so I guess until she dies I am officially acting on her behalf. Mum does not know my sister has died, I saw her yesterday and she can't even talk now she is so ill. I have been advised not to give her the bad news although she may not even understand it.

beavere38

I'm going to seek advice from my solicitor tomorrow.
According to this page: https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/who-can-apply
"If the person did not leave a will
It’s the ‘administrator’ who deals with the estate.
You can apply to become the estate’s administrator if you were the deceased’s:
spouse (husband or wife) - even if you were separated
civil partner
child"
So as sibling I cannot be administrator and neither can my Mum (with me acting on her behalf) ?

getmore4less

beavere38 said:

I'm going to seek advice from my solicitor tomorrow.
According to this page: https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/who-can-apply
"If the person did not leave a will
It’s the ‘administrator’ who deals with the estate.
You can apply to become the estate’s administrator if you were the deceased’s:
spouse (husband or wife) - even if you were separated
civil partner
child"
So as sibling I cannot be administrator and neither can my Mum (with me acting on her behalf) ?

That link is incomplete after those it goes by the order of inheritance.
You could do it as POA for your mum but given the circumstances that could have issues.

AS for getting the roof fixed that is OK, using estate funds is not strictly allowed, there is no policing and looks like the only person that could make a fuss is you or your mum 

xylophone

The house belongs to your sister. 

It appears that she has not made a will - you will need to check very carefully.

Whether or not she has made a will, it is perfectly possible that the bank will not allow  the exor/administrator access to her bank account etc until after the grant of probate/letters of administration  - that said, the Funeral Director can present his bill to the bank for payment before probate.

You will not be able to deal with the transfer of the property before the Grant has been issued.

You will need to check for a will - if there isn't one and you intend to apply for LOA, you will need to contact the bereavement team at your sister's bank.

You might explain the dangerous state of the roof and find out whether they would release funds against the roofing company's bill before the Grant is issued?

parcival

Sounds like a terrible situation. Best of luck with it......

beavere38

I've been over at the house again today it is an hour drive from me so I can't just pop in. I have come to the conclusion that she did not make a will. I've removed around 100kg of paperwork so far, I had to buy an incinerator yesterday to burn the unimportant stuff as I cannot store it all and access to my local recycling centre is difficult at the moment due to Covid-19. There is paperwork going back to 1976 and with the roof leaking most of it is musty so I'm not sure if I should really be handling it. The stuff I have burnt is unimportant there are newspapers, 20 year old timesheets, even leaflets that came through the door etc.
There was a top drawer in a filing cabinet where she seemed to keep important stuff like bank statements going back decades so if she had made a will she would have kept a copy/record in there I think. I cannot find a receipt for anything from a solicitor apart from her first house purchase then second house move over 30 years ago.
I am going to ask the solicitor that made my will to assist me with the process and help me ensure I do everything by the book but I will try and do as much as I can myself to keep costs down. It is a horrible position to be in that's true but if I don't deal with it nobody else will. I'm going to have to sort out Mum's flat and estate too very soon but she has a will with no complications so at least that should be less of a headache.

AnotherJoe

Sounds awful. Good luck.

getmore4less

Look for an house insurance policy, that may pay for emergency repair to the roof. 
Even a simple repair like a large tarp would help. 
Is the house detached. 

If you can't access estate money there may be the option of a loan from your mums assets as it is in her interest to protect the house. 

beavere38

The house is semi detached. It is an odd design, it has a tiled roof but the rear bedroom sticks out of the roof and has a flat roof. That is what has been leaking. The front bedroom has a very small flat roof over the window and this is also what has been leaking. Insurers don't usually cover flat roofs as they slowly deteriorate and leak after about 20 years in my experience.
Going to speak to my solicitor later.Thank you for all the advice so far.