Probate problems

Beeboo23

We’re first time buyers and had an offer accepted on a house in mid March. We were told that the house was going through probate. We received a call from the EA in mid May to say probate had been granted and we should start the conveyancing, apply for the mortgage and get a survey done.

 We had the survey done and the mortgage approved. I was then told that probate hadn’t actually been granted and is still in progress (the EA gave us the wrong information). It’s now almost August and there’s no indication as to how much longer we’ll have to wait for probate to go through. As we’re FTBs and renting there’s no rush other than I’d really like to get this done and dusted as it’s starting to drag out. Also it would be convenient to get in sooner rather than later as I could potentially be taking on more days at work in the foreseeable future and I’d it would be convenient to move whilst I have some extra time on my hands.

I’ve been keeping my eye out for properties with other sellers who are actually proceedable. I just wondered if anyone else had any experience with this/ words of wisdom as it can really be quite frustrating. It seems silly to pull out unless we actually find something else. However who knows how long this could go on for. 

kinger101

You're doing the sensible think in looking for other properties, but make sure they're chain-free.  
If you do end up buying somewhere else, I'm make a complaint to the EA, and refer to the TPO if they don't refund your abortive costs.  That's assuming they're a member.  You probably won't win, but it doesn't cost anything. 

greatcrested

kinger101 said:

..., and refer to the TPO if they don't refund your abortive costs.  That's assuming they're a member.  You probably won't win, but it doesn't cost anything. 

By law they have to belong to either

* The Property Ombudsman
* Property Redress Scheme

Probate could be another week or another 6 months so I'd keep looking .If Probate comes through before you find somewhere else, great.If not.....

Flugelhorn

this can be a problem with probate - it may not be the EA's fault - some people don;t quite get that "have filled in the forms for probate" is not actually the same as "we have the actual grant in our hands"  - executor may well have told the EA they had it when they didn't. 
I would be cheesed off if I was in your position, it is not fair when people do this - you are doing the right thing looking at other properties

Chloe901

No advice, but I share your pain! We put an offer in mid-March also, and were told that probate had been submitted, that it was straightforward, any day now etc. etc. Then we were told last week that actually it wasn't even submitted until mid-July. With current delays I'm not expecting the grant to be received any time before September. We're very frustrated and have (possibly!) found another property in the meantime. I feel quite guilty but as my other half keeps reminding me, if they'd been in a position to proceed we wouldn't have had our heads turned - we'd be in already!

getmore4less

Always check the probate register for the grant being issued before spending too much money.

Sometimes it is just an excuse easy to blame the grant when the reality there are issues with sellers being motivated.

May even be one of the beneficiaries is buying it and they just lie and pull out when they are ready. 

Beeboo23

Chloe901 said:

No advice, but I share your pain! We put an offer in mid-March also, and were told that probate had been submitted, that it was straightforward, any day now etc. etc. Then we were told last week that actually it wasn't even submitted until mid-July. With current delays I'm not expecting the grant to be received any time before September. We're very frustrated and have (possibly!) found another property in the meantime. I feel quite guilty but as my other half keeps reminding me, if they'd been in a position to proceed we wouldn't have had our heads turned - we'd be in already!

I really hope ours haven’t done this as well. I’ve looked into it and some people get it sorted in weeks, sometimes it can last years. If you’ve found another house with a proceedable seller I’d just go for it. If something else comes up for us I think we will as well. I don’t know about you but I’ve actually managed to save up quite a bit more since our offer was accepted so we’d be in a better position to get something that doesn’t need so much work doing. 

Beeboo23

getmore4less said:

Always check the probate register for the grant being issued before spending too much money.

Sometimes it is just an excuse easy to blame the grant when the reality there are issues with sellers being motivated.

May even be one of the beneficiaries is buying it and they just lie and pull out when they are ready. 

My dad said they could be trying to stall it for some reason but as probate hasn’t been issued yet I guess there’s no way to tell. Lesson learnt for future though. I’ve already spent £650 on a survey but nothing else yet. I think I’ll go for it if I see something else with a seller who’s in a position to move forward.   

greatcrested

You can check if probate has been granted here

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

FreeBear

Beeboo23 said:  I’ve looked into it and some people get it sorted in weeks, sometimes it can last years.

Depends on exactly who the executors are - If it a solicitor, it could take months for them to do all the paperwork (due diligence and all that). If there are any disgruntled family sticking their oar in because they didn't get what they were expecting, that could drag things out even longer.

But for many estates where the executors are non-professionals and no family squabbles to contend with, the whole process can be wrapped up fairly quickly. There will be delays due to current climate and an unfortunate increase in deaths, but that is to be expected.

Beeboo23

greatcrested said:

You can check if probate has been granted here

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

The only problem is I have the details of the sellers but not the person who died.  Unless the estate agent is willing to tell me the name of the deceased there’s no way for me to search the register.