Another "how long will probate take" aka when can I put the house on the market?

macman

You cannot exchange or complete, but you can certainly market it. All depends how diligent the EA is: at most, they'll probably want nothing more than a copy of the death cert and your own ID to demonstrate your relationship to the deceased owner. Some, going by reports on here, won't even bother with that, they'll simply accept the instruction, contract with you, and worry about the paperwork later.

getmore4less

You can exchange.

many solicitors don't like to as it involves more work and extra clauses to cover the case where you don't get the grant for some reason and the various potential delays.

(anyone can contract to sell anything, builders do it all the time on the promise  they might build you a house that looks something like the drawings)


Don't mess any potential buyers around make it clear that you are waiting for the grant 


its a timing thing  the council tax kicks in 6 months after grant if it has class F exemption.

market to early and you could have a eager buyer waiting and they  give up.
leave it too long and the 6 months runs out.

After application and waiting for the grant is a reasonable time to start 

alisont

I cannot advise on house sales but can say that I got probate granted in a month for my late Dad’s estate. I was sole beneficiary and it wasn’t complicated, sent forms off in March (recorded) 2 days before the month was up emailed to say they were looking at it, 10 minutes later granted then grants arrived 2 days later. I had the house valued for inheritance tax purposes but as I live here I’m staying. The estate agent advised I could list the house if I wished but would need probate to complete. 

EnsFinch

Well alisont you have beaten me, sounds like I sent the probate forms off at much the same time as you.
But I've just had an email from HMCTS to say they've got everything so there is definite progress.

Now for the house clearance firm and the estate agent.

Marcon

Good summary here: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/101349