How to approach a Solicitor regarding a deceased neighbours estate

Happymerryberries

Hi all, Need a little sensitive help with how to word an email to a solicitor who dealt with the estate of a neighbour in the village. Sadly two years ago there was a housefire and the elderly mother and adult daughter died. I wanted to approach the family to ask if the land on which the property burnt down would be sold as I would be interested in purchasing to build a home for my family. I feel I have left a good amount of time to be sensitive in the matter and thought maybe to go via the solicitor who was handling the estate might be the way to go. Anyone or any legal beagles got any thoughts as to how I might  word my approach.
Many thanks 

elsien

Before approaching the solicitor, have you considered checking the land registry entry to see who the owners are currently listed as? That will give you an inkling as to whether things have been sorted or not, and who the owners now are. 

Happymerryberries

I can see that the executor of her will was her sister and who the beneficiaries are but thought it a bit much to approach them directly.

elsien

No, I appreciate that. I was more thinking that they may have sold the land on to someone else in the interim so checking who it currently belongs would be relevant to avoid contacting family unneccessarily.

naedanger

Approaching the solicitor sounds the best approach and given they are dealing with the matter in a professional capacity I wouldn't worry too much about the tone. For example:

Dear [..],
I believe you are handling the estates of Mrs X and Miss Y who both sadly died in 20xx. I would be interested in purchasing the [land/property] at [address] and therefore wonder if you are aware of any plans for its sale. I realise this likely to be a sensitive matter but would be grateful for any information you can provide about this matter.
Yours sincerely

Of course they might not be willing to give you any information if your request does not align with the executors/beneficiaries plans.

Happymerryberries

elsien said:

No, I appreciate that. I was more thinking that they may have sold the land on to someone else in the interim so checking who it currently belongs would be relevant to avoid contacting family unneccessarily.

Ah I see your angle. 

Happymerryberries

naedanger said:

Approaching the solicitor sounds the best approach and given they are dealing with the matter in a professional capacity I wouldn't worry too much about the tone. For example:

Dear [..],
I believe you are handling the estates of Mrs X and Miss Y who both sadly died in 20xx. I would be interested in purchasing the [land/property] at [address] and therefore wonder if you are aware of any plans for its sale. I realise this likely to be a sensitive matter but would be grateful for any information you can provide about this matter.
Yours sincerely

Of course they might not be willing to give you any information if your request does not align with the executors/beneficiaries plans.

Thank you, this might do the job. I hope that at the very least they may pass it on to them to consider. Will give it a whirl. Had complete brain block as I was too emotionally caught up with what had happened. 

RetSol

What makes you think that the property ownership has not already changed hands?

As @elsien says, the land may have been sold already.  You can find out who the current owner is by doing an online search at the Land Registry - https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry. There is a small fee for this. 

As you are local, you can probably see that the property has not been redeveloped but this does not mean that it has not already been sold. 

naedanger

Alternatively:
I believe you are handling the estates of Mrs X and Miss Y who both sadly died in 20xx. I realise this is likely to be a sensitive matter but I would be interested in purchasing the [land/property] at [address].  I would therefore be grateful if you could pass on my interest to the executor at the appropriate time or let me know whether or not there are any plans for the sale of the property.
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I see the purpose of the letter as being to hopefully open a correspondence rather than cover everything you might be considering.