Putting a property on the market before probate granted

SevenOfNine

Feb 2016, Feb 2018 & Nov 2020.  It was solicitor who wanted to see LoA/Probate grants before sale could progress to 'exchange'.

getmore4less

uknick said:

Flugelhorn said:

uknick said:

Thanks for the answers.  Those of you that didn't need to show evidence, was that before 2017?  I believe things should have changed when the Anti Money Laundering rules came in. 

no it was 2018 - I actually scanned and sent a copy of the probate to the EA, they hadn't asked but thought they might want some proof that I had the right to sell the property.

I might be being dim about this as AML is a total mystery to me but what does it have to do with an executor selling a property? 

The AML rules want to know where the cash for transactions comes from, i.e., is it a legal source and where it's going to.

It is possible for somebody to market and sell a property they don't actually own, especially if they say they're the executor of an estate.  It wouldn't take much to create a will and use this to sell a house if the EA and solicitor didn't do their due diligence and check the right to sell by waiting for the probate approval.  In the same way, the buyer's source of funds should be checked to see they're from a legal source.

It's the land registry responsibility to check the sellers are legitimate.

JJWSJS8700

What checks do land registry carry out?

cymruchris

Are you confident probate will be granted without any holdups? Mine was delayed for a year by a member of the family placing a caveat, which has now been removed, and finally will go to market in a few weeks. I wouldn't have wanted to have held a potential buyer that long. Are there any possibilities of you getting any challenges for the will? Or are you comfortable that everything is straightforward? 

uknick

cymruchris said:

Are you confident probate will be granted without any holdups? Mine was delayed for a year by a member of the family placing a caveat, which has now been removed, and finally will go to market in a few weeks. I wouldn't have wanted to have held a potential buyer that long. Are there any possibilities of you getting any challenges for the will? Or are you comfortable that everything is straightforward? 

I assume you're responding to me as the OP.

I'm not the executor, just a beneficiary.  As probate papers have only just been submitted and the IHT is yet to be paid, due to banking mistakes, I think we're some way from probate being granted.  However, I'm not aware of any interest in the property yet after about 3 weeks.

Regarding your comment about the caveat, can you remember how long it took to remove the caveat once the issues were resolved? 

cymruchris

uknick said:

cymruchris said:

Are you confident probate will be granted without any holdups? Mine was delayed for a year by a member of the family placing a caveat, which has now been removed, and finally will go to market in a few weeks. I wouldn't have wanted to have held a potential buyer that long. Are there any possibilities of you getting any challenges for the will? Or are you comfortable that everything is straightforward? 

I assume you're responding to me as the OP.

I'm not the executor, just a beneficiary.  As probate papers have only just been submitted and the IHT is yet to be paid, due to banking mistakes, I think we're some way from probate being granted.  However, I'm not aware of any interest in the property yet after about 3 weeks.

Regarding your comment about the caveat, can you remember how long it took to remove the caveat once the issues were resolved? 

Yes - Wasn't sure if you were the one listing - or asking about someone else listing. My dad's solicitor only found out the caveat had been placed when the probate application was made. The process of removing the caveat involved sending a 'warning' - which wasn't responded to, so the probate office removed it. From sending the 'warning' to removing the caveat seemed to take about 3-4 weeks. Usually caveats are placed by disgruntled family members/friends - you'll have an idea if anyone falls into this bracket in your own case - but you never know who or what will crawl out of the woodwork when it comes to money So as much as listing a property before probate is granted does happen - it's good to be aware that it's not always a smooth process.

uknick

cymruchris said:

uknick said:

cymruchris said:

Are you confident probate will be granted without any holdups? Mine was delayed for a year by a member of the family placing a caveat, which has now been removed, and finally will go to market in a few weeks. I wouldn't have wanted to have held a potential buyer that long. Are there any possibilities of you getting any challenges for the will? Or are you comfortable that everything is straightforward? 

I assume you're responding to me as the OP.

I'm not the executor, just a beneficiary.  As probate papers have only just been submitted and the IHT is yet to be paid, due to banking mistakes, I think we're some way from probate being granted.  However, I'm not aware of any interest in the property yet after about 3 weeks.

Regarding your comment about the caveat, can you remember how long it took to remove the caveat once the issues were resolved? 

Yes - Wasn't sure if you were the one listing - or asking about someone else listing. My dad's solicitor only found out the caveat had been placed when the probate application was made. The process of removing the caveat involved sending a 'warning' - which wasn't responded to, so the probate office removed it. From sending the 'warning' to removing the caveat seemed to take about 3-4 weeks. Usually caveats are placed by disgruntled family members/friends - you'll have an idea if anyone falls into this bracket in your own case - but you never know who or what will crawl out of the woodwork when it comes to money So as much as listing a property before probate is granted does happen - it's good to be aware that it's not always a smooth process.

Ta very much.  Useful to know the time scales.  It's interesting to see how relatively quick it was to remove the caveat even though a warning was needed.

getmore4less

uknick said:

cymruchris said:

Are you confident probate will be granted without any holdups? Mine was delayed for a year by a member of the family placing a caveat, which has now been removed, and finally will go to market in a few weeks. I wouldn't have wanted to have held a potential buyer that long. Are there any possibilities of you getting any challenges for the will? Or are you comfortable that everything is straightforward? 

I assume you're responding to me as the OP.

I'm not the executor, just a beneficiary.  As probate papers have only just been submitted and the IHT is yet to be paid, due to banking mistakes, I think we're some way from probate being granted.  However, I'm not aware of any interest in the property yet after about 3 weeks.

Regarding your comment about the caveat, can you remember how long it took to remove the caveat once the issues were resolved? 

I would be concerned about that more than how long the grant will take.

There may be reasons like unusual property but often can point to a pricing issue.

Some EA soft launch to their book and own website only  to see if there is interest before going to rightmove.

uknick

It is on Rightmove already and I do think there is a pricing issue; in my opinion priced too high.  However, that's what the executor wants to do at present.  As it's early days, I'm not overly concerned.

Ksw3

@cymruchris may I ask if there were was any legal ramifications once probate had been granted?

We are in a similar position (we are the buyers) and probate has been granted after a caveat was raised but our solicitor had no idea what any of this meant so had to explain to them about warnings etc. If probate has been granted does that mean we can buy the house and the sale can't be undone in some way if there was a further dispute?