Letter of Administration

Mildreds_Earrings

Hello, we were in the final stages of a house purchase, gleefully awaiting the exchange and completion date but then our Solicitor discovered that although the other side received Grant of Probate (after almost a year of waiting!) from the deceased (daughter) to the beneficiary (relative), the deceased (daughter) failed to carry out any legal work when she inherited the house from her also deceased parents.

Therefore the beneficiary (relative) now needs to return to the Probate Registry to obtain a Letter of Administration to act for the deceased parents, so that the relative can actually sell the house to us.

As you can understand, we are incandescent with rage 😡 that this has only been discovered at this late stage! But our question is, does anyone know or have experience of how long it currently takes the Probate Registry to issue a Letter of Administration?

Many thanks in advance 🙂

Marcon

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Hello, we were in the final stages of a house purchase, gleefully awaiting the exchange and completion date but then our Solicitor discovered that although the other side received Grant of Probate (after almost a year of waiting!) from the deceased (daughter) to the beneficiary (relative), the deceased (daughter) failed to carry out any legal work when she inherited the house from her also deceased parents.

Therefore the beneficiary (relative) now needs to return to the Probate Registry to obtain a Letter of Administration to act for the deceased parents, so that the relative can actually sell the house to us.

As you can understand, we are incandescent with rage 😡 that this has only been discovered at this late stage! But our question is, does anyone know or have experience of how long it currently takes the Probate Registry to issue a Letter of Administration?

Many thanks in advance 🙂

Given this sounds more than a tad messy, it may take longer than you'd hoped (i.e. it won't be instant!), but nobody can guess how long, although I expect there'll be plenty of people along to speculate and give links to sites which won't answer your question.

The better news is that there is nothing to stop you exchanging contracts on a conditional basis to ensure that you bag the house you clearly want. The conditions need to be heavily in your favour: try suggesting that you pay 5% on exchange rather than the usual 10%; a 'long stop' date for completion which, if the other side can't meet it, will mean you get back the full 5% (or whatever you agree), plus your legal fees.

Flugelhorn

Agree could take longer than you hoped, simply because someone (the person with LOA presumably ) has to go back to uncover evidence of the estates of the parents, which may mean going back some time depending on when they died etc 

Mildreds_Earrings

Thanks for your responses @Macron and @Flugelhorn
It took us a long time to find this house and we are not in a chain, so we want to proceed.  We will ask our Solicitor to set up a date to exchange contracts, so at least we/they are somewhat locked into the deal.  

thegreenone

I have been advised that probate is taking 6-8 weeks at the moment but as probate was granted I would assume a Letter of Administration would be half that time.  Good luck, fingers crossed - that house will be yours!

Mildreds_Earrings

thegreenone said:

I have been advised that probate is taking 6-8 weeks at the moment but as probate was granted I would assume a Letter of Administration would be half that time.  Good luck, fingers crossed - that house will be yours!

Thanks very much for your response.  Given the length of time we have already wasted/waited, the other side are keen to progress asap, so here's hoping!